The Luna Syndicate
by garfieldodie
Summary: A sinister power threatens all of reality, forcing Calvin and Hobbes' gang to join forces with a shady organization to put things right. Interdimensional travel, monsters galore and a strange new culture await as everyone unites to save reality itself from a masked madman... COMPLETE!
1. A New Babysitter

**Author's Note:** _..._

 _Hey, if Doctor Who can take a year off, why can't_ we _?!  
_

 _So yeah, this isn't Double Trouble. That story has taken a backseat because after I basically churned out four feature-length stories last year, I kinda wore myself out. However, in lighter news, Swing123 is back! And he pitched me this story idea that we've been working on all year, and I'm happy to say it's nearly done, so you can expect weekly uploads! Woot! We're also outlining the rewritten Double Trouble, so with a little luck, that should follow on sometime in 2017._

 _In the meantime, please accept this story as an apology for taking so long, and we hope you'll enjoy. This story takes place between_ Lost at Sea _and_ The Collective _, so bear that in mind while reading. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

 _Do not whisper to the wind,_

 _For wind winds far and deep,_

 _Deep down into the shadow land_

 _Where evil creatures sleep._

 _The echo of thy uttered word_

 _Can wake them, make them creep._

 _Do not whisper to the wind,_

 _For seething monsters hear;_

 _The winds will carry monologues_

 _To meet their careful ears,_

 _And they will rise up from their tombs_

 _To plague the world with fear._

 _Do not whisper to the wind_

 _For demons know, they say,_

 _Where rests thy sleepy, pretty head_

 _When darkness swallows day,_

 _And in the night they'll come on thee_

 _And steal thy soul away._

 _Do not whisper to the wind,_

 _For evil's waiting there_

 _With anxious claws and open ears_

 _Just listening to the air._

 _And waiting for a foolish child_

 _To whisper unaware._

 _Do not whisper to the wind,_

 _For beasts come leather skinned_

 _With eyes aglow in sickly hue_

 _And figures tall and thinned._

 _Thou may not, shall not, cannot_

 _Ever whisper to the wind._

* * *

"It's going to be dark in an hour, Uncle, we need to move faster..."

A small lone carriage pulled by two brown and white horses silently rode down a slightly cracked and worn brick road. Surrounding them were several darkened houses with all the shades drawn. The sunlight was slowly fading away and the street was dim, save for a few street lamps which were emitting a strange almost pulsating white light from them. Beyond the houses, the road stretched out to several Victorian style buildings and houses, some of which had gargoyles and other statues decorated around them.

Upon the carriage two men were sitting, one slightly younger looking than the other. The older one, the coachman, looked to be in his mid-50s with an untrimmed goatee and slightly tired expression and was wearing a heavy brown jacket over a black suit. The younger man however looked to be in his 20s, and was as well wearing a heavy brown jacket over a dark suit. However, he was also wearing a scarf and gloves and seemed to be growing increasingly nervous as the sun continued to set, as he sat in his seat, shivering slightly and clutching a bag to his side.

"We're almost there, Jarrod, just calm down," the coachman grunted, in a thick Scottish accent.

"We aren't going to have time to get back," the original man, also Scottish, sighed, sinking into his seat a little bit.

"I've already arranged to stay at the guest area of the center," the coachman replied. "We're almost there. How's the package?"

The boy looked over his shoulder into the back of the carriage. A large wooden crate sat on the floor.

"I haven't heard anything from inside for the last twenty minutes…," he muttered. "Wha… What do you think is in there?"

"That isn't our concern," the coachman said, as the carriage began to slow down.

"But aren't you the least bit curious?"

"No. I just want to be rid of it. Anything that Cooper gives to us to deliver is never good."

The carriage finally halted in front of a large grimy tower, reaching high above the other buildings, also decorated by gargoyles near the top. A few crows were perched on the statues, and looked down ominously at the carriage below.

The two men stared at the building for a short moment.

"You've dealt with these men before?" the boy asked turning to his uncle.

"Never personally," the man said stepping outside and tying the horses to the hitching rail beside the door. "But I've seen the work they've done and given them endeavors in the past that have always turned out exactly how they said it would."

"They're good?" the boy asked stepping out of the carriage.

"They're the best."

"I look forward to meeting them, then," the boy said, looking up again at the tower.

"I don't," the uncle said, straightening himself up.

Jarrod gave his uncle a strange look. "Why?"

"These men go out at night. They see the things that happen, and sometimes... they _cause_ those things to happen. They're the only ones who truly know what it's like in this city after nightfall."

"I don't understand. Why is that bad?"

"When a man sees nothing but one thing, it becomes all he knows," Jarrod's uncle sighed. "And it changes him, Jarrod… There's something you need to understand before we go in there."

He walked over to his nephew and put his hand on his shoulder. "These are not good men."

Leaving that line hanging in the air, he turned and started towards the door. The boy shivered again slightly and looked over his shoulder nervously, before following suit.

* * *

"Emergency. Emergency. There's an emergency going on."

A small red portable CD player was sitting completely still on the desk of a certain six year old boy's bedroom. It was a very handy device, if not a bit over powered. In addition to the fact that it served as a time machine, teleporter, and endless supply of knowledge stemming from the super computer built into it that would make all the nerds of the world drool, the quaintly named MTM provided additional input and character with his charismatic and appropriately British AI personality.

At this point in time however, he was not doing that. He had been sitting in silence on the desk for hours, while his two comrades, Calvin and Hobbes, had been busy with other matters. Calvin was quietly complaining to himself while he did his homework, while Hobbes slept silently on the residing bed. All had been relatively peaceful until MTM had randomly erupted with a blaring alarm which filled the room, causing the two occupants of said room to startle at the sudden noise.

Calvin was laying on his back on the floor, having fallen backwards in his chair and his feline companion was currently attached to the ceiling his hair ruffled and on end.

"Thanks, MTM," Calvin muttered, still slightly in pain from his fall. "You can turn the alarm off, now."

MTM obliged and the noise stopped.

Calvin slowly picked himself up, while Hobbes fell back down to the bed, and looked around in all directions, still disorientated from being jerked awake.

"What's the deal?" he said in a squeaky voice, trying to sound like he hadn't been startled.

"I'm detecting an unrecognized life signature that's currently approaching the house." MTM replied flatly.

"And you felt the need to blare an alarm about it?" Calvin growled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey you're the one who told me to keep track of who comes and goes around here. We only have an entire alien civilization and like two or three mad scientists that want to kill us."

"Who is it and where are they?" Calvin muttered straightening himself up. "I may need to warn my parents of this."

"It's a female... Between the ages of 18 and 21... Red hair... freckles... Ooh..."

"Ooh what?" Hobbes said, worriedly approaching the desk.

"Never mind, I just did a mental overlay of her general IQ. I don't think she's capable of taking any of us out."

"Nevertheless, we need to find out what she wants," Calvin said, picking the CD player up, and turning for his door. "Let's find Mom and investigate further."

Before Calvin could reach his door, however, he saw the doorknob turn, and it opened, revealing a tall brown haired woman who appeared to be in her early to mid-30s. She was wearing a black dress, had a lot of makeup on and was currently trying to correctly position an earring, while she looked around the room.

"Calvin, what the heck was that noise?" she asked, looking around for anything that could have possibly made the insanely loud alarm.

"MTM's proximity alarm," Calvin said, holding the CD player up. "That's not important though. There's someone coming up to our front door. No one we've ever seen before... She might be an enemy. Shall I deploy the traps?"

"No Calvin, I swear you never listen to me, I've told you this like nine times now that..." Her voice trailed off as she thought about what her son had said. "...What traps?"

At that moment, the sound of the doorbell ringing was heard throughout the house.

"I got it!" Calvin's father was heard calling out from downstairs.

Calvin shrugged. "Just need to push one button, and it'll start," he said simply. "You might not want to go outside for a while though."

"Hush, Calvin, she's here." Mom said trying in vain to straighten the boy's hair.

"I'm aware of that, Mom, that's the whole point that I'm..." Calvin trailed off, when he realized what his mother was wearing. "You're in a dress..."

"I know that..."

"You never wear dresses..."

"Mmhm..."

"Or put on makeup..."

"Mmhm..."

"...Unless you and Dad are going out..."

"Ah-yup..."

"Which means... that girl... is _a babysitter?!_ "

"Hey Jess, I'm glad you found the place okay." Calvin's dad said, shaking the teenage girl's hand. "Thank you again for coming on such short notice. It's just that our regular babysitter is busy and we really had no one else we could call..."

"It's not a problem," the red haired girl replied with a smooth and confident voice. "Thank you for the offer. I love children, so I always love the opportunity to look after one."

"Well, as we warned you, Calvin can be a bit of a handful," Dad sighed.

"I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle," Jessica chuckled. "Where is he right now?"

"Well, my wife just went upstairs to get him so he's probably..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Dad and Jessica jumped as an ear piercing screech rang out through the house, marking the second unexpected blaring loud noise of the evening.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! IT'S NOT FAIR! I CAN LOOK AFTER MYSELF! I CAN HANDLE SOLITUDE! DON'T DO THIS TO ME, MOM! IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Dad and Jessica stared up the staircase for a long moment. Dad turned back to Jessica.

"I should probably tell you he has been known to dress up in his super hero costume and attack his babysitters in the past." He said, flatly.

Silence greeted these words.

"Okay..." Jessica started, slowly. "Anything else I should be aware of?"

"You don't have any homework or important documents on you, right?"

* * *

Calvin, Hobbes and MTM all laid quietly under Calvin's bed. Hobbes was reading a comic book via flashlight while Calvin gripped the MTM, looking back and forth suspiciously.

"What's the news from the front, MTM?" Calvin whispered, quietly.

"The babysitter's still in the living room, watching TV."

"How long has it been since my parents left?"

"Nineteen minutes and fifty three seconds."

"Drat... We still have at least another couple hours..."

"Ya know, there's always the possibility that this babysitter isn't as bad as Rosalyn," Hobbes chimed in. "We haven't exactly gave her a chance."

"Hobbes, I want you to think back on all our past experiences, and name one example of a teenage girl we've gotten along with." Calvin sighed, shaking his head.

"To be completely honest, the only teenage girl we've ever interacted with around here is Rosalyn." Hobbes said, tapping his chin.

"Not the point," Calvin continued. "What we have here is a rare occasion where the babysitter is leaving us alone. I think we should embrace that, and not prod the situation any by 'giving her a chance', as you coin it."

Hobbes shrugged.

"Whoop, hold on, something's changing," MTM chimed in.

"What have we got?" Calvin inquired.

"She's texting someone."

Calvin rolled his eyes. "Yeah... teenage girls do that. Can we keep the updates relevant to our situation?"

"I mean, probably not, because I don't exactly see this person doing anything to affect our hiding under the bed..."

"Hey, we're not hiding!" Calvin protested. "We're acquiring a better vantage point for a strategic advantage!"

"That's what you say every time we hide," Hobbes said, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine... what do the text messages say?" Calvin grumbled.

"Hang about," MTM yawned. "The first text message is from a contact called 'Chris', and it says 'hey babe wut r u doin'."

"Okay..."

"The following text from the girl reads 'lol nm just sittin here watching tv wbu'.

"Kay..."

"Chris responds 'nm i miss u'."

"Uh huh..."

"'i miss u 2 3', 'im going camping next 2 the lake tonite wanna come', 'cant babysitting :((((', 'bring with haha', 'haha i wish lol', 'will u come', 'parents will be home tonite haha', 'just come by for a while i want 2 c u,' 'ily babe 33333'."

"Okay, can you stop now?" Hobbes asked, rubbing his temple. "I can feel my brain cells killing themselves..."

Calvin simply stared ahead in confused. "Do... do people actually talk like this?"

"From what Socrates tells me about the internet, it is far worse," Hobbes sighed.

"Uh oh...," MTM suddenly piped in.

Calvin's eyes widened at this. Nothing ever good comes from the all-knowing super computer saying 'uh oh'.

"What do you mean, 'uh oh'?"

"We have an update on the girl's movement. She's coming up the stairs. I didn't see the last few texts, but the last one that was sent said 'c u soon ily'."

Calvin was not a fan of camping. In fact it was one of his least favorite things to do. He always preferred his own bed to any cold tent, plus he had several repressed memories from his previous camping trips which made even just the word 'camping' enough to run a chill down his spine.

Basically, he didn't want to go.

"Hobbes, quick, we need a plan!" Calvin's head turned to right, looking to his larger feline friend for assistance. It was then that he found that he was alone under the bed. Hobbes had vanished.

Calvin's eyes narrowed, and he turned to MTM.

"All right, MTM, we're on our own on this one. Initiate teleporter!"

"That's a negative, ghost rider." MTM said. "Teleporter's down."

"What do you mean, teleporter's down?! Why?"

"Scheduled maintenance. Should be back up in about an hour."

Calvin growled and slapped his forehead, as his bedroom door began to open, and the red haired babysitter stuck her head inside.

"Calvin?" Jessica asked sweetly, looking around the room. "Do you like camping?"

"It's as if this lady _wants_ to get on my bad side." Calvin grumbled, sinking further into the darkness of his bed.

* * *

Calvin sat on a log in front of a dying camp fire with his arms crossed and a deep scowl on his face. Surrounding him was a large forest that gave off an eerie feeling in the silent darkness. The only sounds that surrounded him were the occasional chirps of chipmunks and birds. Sitting across from him on another log were Jessica and her apparent boyfriend Chris. Jessica was sitting in the boy's lap while their faces remained attached to one another, as they had been for the duration that they had been together.

Chris was a very scrawny young man, who was wearing clothes way too big for how small his body was. His baseball cap was on sideways, and he wore several silver necklaces and had a couple ear piercings.

After a couple minutes of very disturbing slurping and squishing noises, the couple finally parted, and Jessica spoke.

"I dunno Chris, I might need to start heading back soon," she said, worriedly. "It's like an hour, and I don't know when his parents are coming home..."

Chris stared at Jessica for a long moment with an expression that did not express understanding of what she had said to him, before turning towards Calvin, who still had not moved from his previous position.

"Do you know what time your parents get back?" he said in a very slow voice, as if he was putting considerable brain power towards every word before he said it.

"No," Calvin said simply, not looking up. He was still very angry at the situation. Mostly Hobbes for disappearing on him, once again, but the entire scenario in general was definitely putting him in an off mood.

Chris blinked. "Fifteen more minutes?" he said, turning back to Jessica.

"That's what you said half an hour ago," She said, playfully twirling her finger around his chest.

They stared at each other for a short moment of sickening puppy love, before their faces reattached.

Calvin's patience drew ever thinner as he watched the couple.

Suddenly, they stopped kissing very abruptly, and Chris began whispering something into Jessica's ear. Jessica giggled, and the two proceeded to stand up.

Calvin raised an eyebrow as he watched them.

"Hey Calvin?" Jessica said, turning towards him. "Chris and I are gonna go over behind those trees for a little bit. Don't... wander off or anything, okay?"

Calvin pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a deep sigh. He was beginning to miss Rosalyn's tyranny.

"You people... are just asking for some kind of horror movie death scene, you know that right?" he grumbled.

"We promise we won't leave you for long," Jessica said, clearly misunderstanding who Calvin was talking about. "We'll be back before you know it."

Calvin didn't reply. He simply continued to pout and glare at the ground.

"Calvin... you know... not to tell your parents about this, right?" Jessica started again, slowly.

Silence was met from these words.

Calvin's face softened, and his eyes widened slightly as a scheming smile began to spread across his face. "Hmm... yes, that would be rather unfortunate, wouldn't it?" he said, turning an evil smile onto his babysitter.

Jessica stared at him for a short moment, finally realizing she had made a mistake with her words. "Yeah...," she said, slowly. "You... won't tell them right?"

Calvin chuckled and stretched a kink out of his neck. "I dunno, Jess, I've been known in the past to have loose lips," he said. "Maybe… a little incentive would help your chances?"

Jessica and Chris exchanged glances.

"We'll go home as soon as Chris and I get back...," Jessica promised.

"I want cookies."

"I'll buy cookies..."

"And gummy worms."

"Sure..."

"I'd also care to have access to the TV for the rest of the night until my parents get home."

"Whatever you need...," Jessica agreed.

"Oh, well, if we're going _that_ far, I also want ten bucks and a pizza." Calvin chuckled.

Jessica grimaced. She conceded to keep her mouth shut finally, to avoid making her situation more expensive. She simply nodded.

"We'll be right back," she assured the boy, as she took her boyfriend's hand, and lead him away towards the darkness of the forest.

Calvin watched them depart.

"MTM, where are my parents right now?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Restaurant, still." MTM was heard saying from Calvin's pocket. "I'm hearing talks of a movie theater, so we still have a few more hours."

"Man, those people eat slowly... Still, good to know. I'm going to milk this as far I can." Calvin chuckled.

"You're still gonna tell them, aren't you?"

"You know me so well," Calvin nodded. "And with any luck, we'll be able to get through this without a hitch... just so long as Hobbes doesn't raid the pantry or something while we're gone... Stupid cat, running off like that, I swear when we get back I'm gonna..."

Suddenly, an ear piercing scream rang out through the forest. Calvin looked up and his brow furrowed.

"... The heck was that?" he started.

"Well, at the risk of sounding cliché, I'd have to say it was probably your babysitter." MTM replied.

There was a deafening silence that followed this.

"Should we go check it out?" MTM suggested.

Calvin shrugged. "I mean, I guess."

"What else do we have to do right now?"

"Good point."

Calvin stood up and stretched, picking the MTM up, and holding him in front of him like a metal detector.

"All right, what do you see?" he asked, waving him back and forth very slowly in the direction the two teenagers walked off in.

"Hm, at the moment, not much," MTM admitted. "Something's interfering with my scanners."

Calvin scrunched his face up in confusion as he started towards the forest.

"Interfering with your...? What could be doing that?"

"Not sure. Give me moment to asses."

For a short moment, Calvin walked very slowly through the silent forest, straining his eyes to see any of the area around him. The only sounds he heard around him were the crunching of twigs under his feet and the periodic beeping from the MTM. All the other sounds of the forest had ceased, creating a fairly creepy atmosphere.

"Hmm," MTM said, thoughtfully.

"What?" Calvin murmured, still a little unsettled by the stillness around him.

"There seems to be a dimensional rift opening not too far from here." MTM explained. "Well, no, actually, two dimensional rifts, but one is a lot stronger than the other. The energy is messing with some of my software."

"Great," Calvin grumbled. "We got one of _these_ adventures coming up. I trust you're putting your shields up."

"Already on it." MTM replied. "I'm rebooting my scanner, hang about a mo. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand... done. Processing... processing... Hmm..."

"Hmm? What hmm?"

"We are currently surrounded by sixteen people. None of them are recognized by my bio scanner, so it's no one we know."

"Greeeeeat...," Calvin growled. He turned his head all around, searching the entire visible area in front of him, yet saw no sign of anyone. Everything was still completely silent. "What about the morons? Where are _they_?"

"Keep walking straight. They're ahead by about a hundred and fifty feet. Life signatures are dim though. I think they're both unconscious. You're going to run into one of the aforementioned sixteen persons before you get to them."

"Noted. Get your overcharge weapon ready and follow my lead," Calvin whispered, placing the MTM away in his pocket. "We don't want these people knowing I got you."

"Right, because _that's_ always made a difference in the past."

"Shut up."

Calvin trudged forward, silently complaining to himself about how he could be watching TV right now, when he came to a small clearing. The moon illuminated it enough to the point where he could see a very small field surround by trees and tall grass. Kneeling in the center of the field with its back to him was a figure.

Calvin squinted through the darkness to make out the details. The figure appeared to be female in her late 20s with long blonde hair. Her hair was matted and dirty, and had mud, grass and several twigs stuck in it. She was wearing a white nightgown which also had mud on it and she was rocking back and forth with her head down. Calvin could very slightly pick up on her whispering and laughing to herself.

Now here's the point where we discuss the difference between Calvin and other children his age. Present this situation to any other six year old boy or girl, or even anyone up into their 20s for that matter, and we would have a terrified, sobbing mess of a human being, feeling a deep and dark fear they had never before felt, and running to the nearest shelter attempting to find their mothers. Calvin, however, was the exception. While the woman certainly creeped him out, the boy was very hard to actually 'scare'. He craved adventures and all things weird, and this was yet another odyssey he would actively seek out to the end. An almost unnoticeable smile crept across his face as he confidently approached the woman.

"Hey lady!"

The whispering stopped and the woman froze.

"I'm looking for a couple teenagers. Have you seen them?"

Seconds passed, and the woman did not respond to him, and simply sat frozen in the grass.

Calvin took another step forward. "Hey! Are you listening? This is kind of import... Well, important-ish... I'd prefer not to have to explain to my parents that my babysitter just disappeared."

The woman began to straighten up, and slowly turned her head towards the boy. It was then that Calvin noticed that the eyes of this woman were completely white. There were no iris or pupils, simply white spheres that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. She had a twisted smile on her face, revealing chipped teeth covered in blood and dirt.

Calvin stared at her for a short moment. Undeterred, he continued. "One of them has red hair... kind of a stupid expression on her face... The other has a sideways baseball cap on... also has kind of a stupid expression on his face..."

"I saw them..."

Calvin's eyebrows jumped. The first words out of the woman's mouth were quiet and ominous, with a tone that was unmistakably excitement.

"Cool. Then hopefully, this will be simple, and you're just a quirky woman in the forest who will just point me in the right direction?"

"They're with my sisters…," the woman continued. "They will be part of the ritual."

Calvin sighed. "Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that… Well, what are the chances that you'd give them back to me if I politely asked?"

"Who are you, child?"

"Why, I'm Calvin the Bold." Calvin chuckled. "You may remember me from a few years ago, I was kind of a big deal."

The woman stared at him, not responding.

"The whole missing for a month thing? Up in the mountains? It was on the local news."

No response.

"Stopping an alien invasion and all that jazz? They left that part out, but it definitely happened."

"My sisters and I do not partake in society's traditions," the woman said coldly.

"Well see, that's just a shame because that means you don't know about gummy worms," Calvin sighed. "The red ones are the best, but they're usually the rarest, surrounded by thousands of the white ones."

"The worms will dine upon your friends by the night's end."

"Now come on, why you gotta turn everything I say into something morbid?" Calvin said, slapping his forehead. "And don't call them my 'friends', I barely want to admit I know them..."

"Then why do you fruitlessly search for them?"

"I dunno, it's not like I have anything else going on," Calvin shrugged. "Plus the girl is kinda my ride home, so…"

The woman held a bony finger up at Calvin.

"If you value your tiny life, you will leave this place. The ritual must be completed!"

"Yeah, you keep saying 'ritual', but I'm still a bit at a loss for what that means."

"Your immature mind would not comprehend our ideals!" the woman said, beginning to raise her voice slightly. "The ritual will bring about the second coming of our father!"

Calvin was silent for a moment while he considered this, nodding to himself.

"That's... ambitious," he shrugged. "Not sure how you want me to respond to that, but sure."

"Respond by abandoning your hope for rescuing the sacrifices!" the woman was now shrieking angrily. "Unless you wish to take their place upon the altar!"

"Not particularly what I had in mind for my evening."

"Then _leave!_ "

"Geeze, fine lady, I'm leaving. You don't need to get all huffy about it."

And with that, Calvin turned and started off in the other direction.

"What do you make of it, MTM?" he whispered.

"Hm? Sorry, wasn't listening." MTM's voice came from Calvin's pocket.

"Why weren't you listening? What have you been doing this whole time?!"

"Monitoring the rift. It's getting bigger. We should probably consider doing something about it."

"Yeah well, I'm kinda busy getting yelled at by crazy ladies talking about raising their father with sacrifices or some nonsense."

MTM paused at this. "Wait, that's what she said?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"You do realize that sounds like demon summoning, right?"

Calvin stopped. "Oh... yeah, I guess it kinda does… Now that I think about it, I think she said something about an altar."

"Yeah, pretty sure that's demons."

"Uuugh... Does that mean we have to deal with it?"

"Well I mean... Not really, but if we don't it sounds like we're gonna have evil spirits summoned in our backyard."

Calvin groaned and turned back around. The woman was still eyeing him, holding her finger outstretched at him. Her eyes were wide, and blood was now dripping from her mouth.

"Yeah I guess that kinda does look all demon like, huh?" he admitted. He sighed, and started back towards her. "All right, never mind! All bets are off. I gotta stop you, now."

The woman stared at him for a long moment before she threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't the usual maniacal evil laugh that Calvin heard on a regular basis from his standard array of enemies, but was instead a deep and demonic sounding cackle, that sent a slight shiver down his spine. He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms, waiting for her to finish. Finally she did, and she took a step towards Calvin.

"You have thirty seconds to hand over the morons," he said in an emotionless tone. "Otherwise, I may have to resort to showing off. For your sake, don't make me show off."

"You think you can stop our father's rise to the physical realm?!" the woman screeched.

"Can we?" Calvin asked quietly, looking down.

"More than likely," MTM replied.

"More than likely," Calvin said, looking back up. "You will be summoning no Matt Damons on our watch, lady!"

The woman took another step towards the boy. It was then that he noticed that other figures were beginning to appear from the darkness of the forest. They were all wearing black cloaks that covered their faces, and were quietly chanting in unison. They slowly began closing the gap.

Calvin took a defensive stance and chuckled, reaching into his pocket. He pulled the MTM out and held it in front of him.

"MTM initiate force field."

"Done."

A transparent and electrified blue dome appeared around the two and electricity began crackling from the tip of the CD player.

The group continued closing in on Calvin without hesitation. "This is almost going to be too easy. Hobbes is gonna be _so_ jealous when he finds out what he missed out on."

"Shield capacity at 95 percent. Shall I shock them?"

"Wait for it…," Calvin said, holding his hand up, watching the cult approaching him. "Wait for it... Now!"

A slight bit of sparks flickered from the MTM, and the dome surrounding them flickered slightly.

Calvin paused and turned a concerned look onto his invention.

"What was that?" he began, worriedly.

"It's the rift," MTM said, a slight tone of worry in his voice as well. "It's opening... It's messing with my system a little bit... Shield capacity is at 65 percent."

Calvin looked around, frantically. By this point, the cult was upon him, and several of them were banging their fists on the force field, still chanting in a different language. Some of their punches were causing the dome to bend, and others were beginning to get their hands through.

"How is that possible?" Calvin demanded. "You run on interdimensional energy! Why is this affecting you?"

"The rift is literally right on top of us," MTM explained. "What happens when you run too much electricity through a lightbulb?"

"Where is this rift coming from?" Calvin asked. "Is it these freaks?"

"Unlikely," MTM said. "They haven't done this ritual yet, so I'm guessing this is something else."

Calvin's head darted back and forth, desperately trying to think of what to do. "All right, MTM!" he started. "Reduce the power of the force field! Use the remaining power to compensate for their hits!"

"On it."

There was a pause, then the force field completely dissipated. One of the cult members made a grab for Calvin's hair, only to be blocked by a small section of the force field that then reappeared in the perfect size to block the hand.

Others continued to reach for the boy, some trying to kick him, all being perfectly blocked against the flickering sections of the force field, each one being put up perfectly timed to stop each attack.

"All right," Calvin said. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we should probably figure it out before I run out of energy in the next forty seconds," MTM said, flatly.

"Great. That's just great," Calvin grumbled. "What weapons are online?"

"Well... My squirt gun is still fully functional, as is my foam dart gun and Oreo dispenser." MTM replied. "Still not sure why you installed any of those as we've never used them once, but I guess the option is always there."

"Right..."

"Yeah, remember that rift I said was opening?"

"What about it?"

"It is now open."

Calvin looked up. In all the panic, he had been completely unaware of the purple and blue lights that had appeared directly above his head. Even some of the cloaked figures paused their assault to gawk at the phenomenon.

Calvin blinked several times, as he stared blankly at the portal that was opening right in front of him.

"Something's coming through," MTM said. "Scratch that. _Two_ somethings are coming through."

"Uuugh... I don't have time for this right now! I'm already dealing with one emergency! Can you shut the portal down?"

"Nope. Won't have to, anyway. It'll close on its own once whatever is using it is through." MTM said.

"OUR FATHER HAS RISEN!"

"Oh shut up, we all know that's not what's happening!" Calvin spat.

At that moment, something finally reached Calvin's ears. It was screaming. But not a scream of fear or a scream of agony that one would assume to hear in this horror movie style situation. It was in fact a scream of frustration and anger. A very familiar scream of frustration and anger.

"FOR FLIPPING GOD'S SAKE, JACK, MY NAME IS DR BRAINSTORM!"

Several people jumped out of the way, as a tall man with a lab coat and wild red hair and a silver robot collapsed onto the ground from the portal. Upon finally spitting out the two, the portal fizzled and faded out, completely, once again plunging the forest into darkness.

The man straightened himself up and checked his anime style hair, as if expecting it to have been messed up. The robot as well stood up.

"Seriously! I legitimately do not understand why you don't just call me that!" Brainstorm screamed, jabbing his finger at the robot. The mad scientist looked a little beat up. His lab coat was ripped in several places and he had a few scratches and bruises. His screaming, however, caused any notice of this detail to be erased, as he was very clearly not mortally wounded.

"Force of habit, really," Jack said, his metal face glistening in the moonlight. "It's not like I enjoy listening to you yell."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"I said, 'Oh look, your mortal enemy Calvin is here'."

Brainstorm whipped around and cast his accusing gaze upon Calvin.

"AH HA! YOU AGAIN! TRYING TO RUIN MY PLANS ONCE MORE, ARE YOU?!"

"Not really, I don't even know what you're doing today," Calvin sighed. "What's up, Jack?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Jack shrugged.

It was then that Jack noticed the people surrounding the boy. The cloaked figures, the crazed demonic woman and the MTM held firmly in Calvin's hand, still sparking slightly. He blinked several times and looked over at Brainstorm, who as well gave him the same puzzled expression, having just noticed himself.

"So…," Jack said, nodding slowly. "Are we, uh, interrupting something?"

"Oh, you know," Calvin shrugged. "The usual."


	2. Into the Shade

_**Two Days Earlier…**_

"I've done it, Jack! I've finally grasped the brass ring, completed the challenge, lived to win, and skipped to my Lou, my darling!"

Jack looked up from his magazine. "What'd you just call me?"

Dr Brainstorm ignored him and ran out of his experiment-developing room. He's had to make the place out of reinforced steel in order to work without disturbing anyone, particularly Jack, who was never going to stop complaining about his boss's tendency to blow the place up in the middle of the crucial part of 'Family Feud'.

"I've finally finished the force field! It's brilliant! It's beautiful! It's the best thing I've ever invented!"

"One minute, I'm 'darling'. The next, I'm second to a force field. This conversation's a rollercoaster," Jack muttered, returning his attention to the magazine.

Dr Brainstorm continued yammering. "I've finally figured out the way to get the unlimited power source necessary for powering it!"

"Is that where all the soda pop went?"

"No! Of course not! That was last week! I'm tapping into something far more powerful! The never-ending power of our own sun!"

Jack raised a metallic eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes! Come on, Jack! Let's test it!"

"But… how'd you tap the power of the _sun_?"

"Very carefully! Now come on!"

"… The sun?"

"Yes!"

"But… that's ridiculous."

"How? How is it 'ridiculous'?!"

"Well, for openers, we're several miles underground."

"Oh, for pete's sake… I have a heat-proof droid in the air converting the solar energy into usable data and transmitting it to the force field!"

Jack looked at him for a long moment, then looked up towards the ceiling, pondering the nature of the droid and its purpose. "So… it's up there right now, sending you power?"

"Yes! A never-ending source of power! Soon, I'll be able to withstand any barrage of bullets, lasers or tomatoes anyone can throw at me! I'll be invincible!"

"Uh huh… And you're not just the tiniest bit concerned that it won't work?"

"Of course it'll work! Come on! Watch it totally start working right now!"

"How?"

Dr Brainstorm pulled out a small electronic cube and clipped it to his belt buckle. He pushed a tiny button, and in an instant, a few streaks of electricity swirled around him and formed a large blue bubble that encased him. "Ta daaaaa!"

Jack looked at him. "… I don't see how this is going to aid you in battle. You're essentially trapped inside of a giant translucent flavorless watermelon."

"Ah, but watch this!"

He pressed another button, and the force field expanded momentarily before suddenly shrinking around him and seemingly vanishing, except now his body was laced by a strange blue glow.

Jack stared. "The heck…?"

"I've calibrated the force field to fit me like a glove! It's like a Brainstorm Slip-Cover! Now I can continue battling without fear of injury!"

"Wow…"

"Ha! You never say that! That means I've done it! Come on! Throw something at me!"

"What?"

"Throw something at me! See it work in its full unbridled glory!"

"I really don't think that…"

"DO IT!"

Jack glared before snatching up the TV remote and giving it a good hurl in the mad scientist's direction. It hit him directly in the forehead, but he didn't even flinch. It just bounced off and clattered harmlessly on the floor.

"Success!" Dr Brainstorm crowed. "Do another one! Something bigger!"

Jack sighed and picked up the coffee table. He threw it at Dr Brainstorm, and like before, it bounced off his body and landed with a crash on the floor.

"Bigger!"

Jack glared and picked up the easy chair. As he was hoisting it up, however, Dr Brainstorm noticed that the glow around his body was crackling with interference and fading away. Before he could register what was really happening, he found himself with a large comfy chair sitting uncomfortably upon his chest as he made contact with the floor.

Jack stared. "… You okay, Frank?"

"Ugh… Dr… _Brainstorm_ … oof…"

Jack went over and lifted the chair up, allowing the man to see the world around him. He gazed up at the pretty colors before pinching his nose in despair. "Drat…," he murmured. "It stopped working."

"Why'd it do that?"

"Not sure… Must've been the power source. Do me a favor and check the remote link with the space robot."

Jack set the chair down again and went to check the computers. He took a moment to locate the signal from the robot and found that it wasn't working the way it was supposed to. "Looks like the power's draining from it," he announced.

"What? How? I put at least fifty Double A's in that thing!"

"All batteries die eventually, Frank."

"Aw, shoot! I can't believe this! I work all the way through the last three weeks on this thing, and I _still_ can't find a suitable power source! I need something that will never run out!"

Jack shook his head. "Frank, you might as well face it. The power source you're looking for doesn't exist. Everything runs out of steam at some point. Your force field requires too much power. You're going to have to think of something else."

Dr Brainstorm sat up awkwardly and let that thought run through his head. "Hmmmm… Well… we've determined that the power source doesn't exist _here_ …"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I just said that."

"Right… So… maybe we need to go somewhere where it _does_ exist…"

Jack raised a metallic eyebrow. "Yeah… Er… where are you going with this, Frank?"

There was a mad glint in Dr Brainstorm's eye that was always troubling, especially when it meant he was getting an idea. "Well, if it doesn't exist in _this_ universe… maybe we need to go to a universe where it _does_ …"

Jack sighed heavily, realizing where this train of thought was taking them. "No, no, no," he sighed. "We don't need to do this. Come on."

But Dr Brainstorm's mind was already made up. He got up off the floor and staggered awkwardly over to the hall closet. He dug around for a few moments until he finally found what he was looking for. It was an old plastic red viewfinder. "And you thought I'd never have a use for this thing again! Come on! Let's take a look at some alternate universes and find one where we can get unlimited power!"

He walked past Jack and took the viewfinder over to the main computer. It pulled open a small flap on the back and pulled out an extendable cord with a USB attachment on the end, hooking it up to the computer. After a moment, it clicked into life, and he was able to start the program.

They watched as the computer screen spewed a series of numbers and codec across itself that blinked, warped and twisted around until it was something they could work with. Jack started typing in rhythm with the data until it all synched up and was ready for use. "Dimension Jumper operational," he announced.

"Good. Now then – let's take a look."

He pressed down the plastic orange lever on the viewfinder and looked through the view goggles. He saw the data streaming before he looked up at the monitor and saw an endless view of himself and Jack, both looking up at the monitor. They looked curiously over their shoulders, trying to see where the view was coming from, almost like looking for a studio camera.

Dr Brainstorm looked through the viewfinder again. "Hmmm… must be the universe next door. Gonna have to skip through a few duplicate universes." He began to pull the plastic lever again and again.

The image on the screen stayed the same for each change until they started to see subtle changes – different haircuts, different clothes, different robot designs, different lab designs, different genders, different ages, more people, some where there was no Jack, others where there was no Brainstorm, but they kept at it until they finally found new locations altogether where neither one of them existed.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere!" Dr Brainstorm cheered. "Let's see what we get…" He looked through the viewfinder at the universe details that flashed by. "Need something… good… Something… powerful…"

Jack watched the different universes flit by on the screen. He tried not to yawn, but this was getting boring.

However, they soon found a universe that had a distinctly Victorian feel to it, complete with dress sense and architecture, and they could see some people milling about and chatting idly. Seeing some conversation, Dr Brainstorm pulled out a pair of earbuds and plugged them into the viewfinder, hoping to find out more.

After a moment static, the voices started to come through.

"… _we can't just keep going through this all the time … we need… the star … crystals ready… the … come out … Those star crystals are our only hope… to get… the lamps. It's the… way to… work_."

Jack tapped him on the shoulder and pulled one of the earbuds out. "Anything interesting, or are you just listening to the local gossip?"

"Something about… star crystals…," Dr Brainstorm murmured. He removed the earbuds and pressed a button on the viewfinder, and the image on the monitor changed to a bunch of statistics and data. He started typing away. "Let's see… It looks like… Oh… Interesting."

"What is?"

"We've found a universe that uses magic instead of science."

"Oh yeah?"

"Star crystals… Perhaps _that's_ the infinite power source I'm looking for…"

Jack waited as his creator either started doing mental calculations to figure out what to do or take a dramatic pause.

"We'll take this one!" he said at last, pressing a button on the viewfinder, and a moment later, streams of data spewed across the screen and downloaded into the hard drive. "There! Got the particulars loaded into the computer. Now we just need to open a doorway."

Realizing this was going to take longer than he'd thought, Jack sadly put his magazine away and headed to the closet, pulling out a handheld device that looked like a large black ball with two handles sticking out on either side. He brought it over and plugged it into the computer. "Downloading data," he sighed.

Dr Brainstorm chucked the viewfinder away. "Excellent! Let's get to it, Jack! Infinite power awaits!"

There was a bleep as the data finished downloading into the device, and Jack pulled it out, grasping it by one of the handles. Dr Brainstorm grasped the other handle with one hand and started typing in commands with the other. "Activating the dimension hopper!"

"Yeah, I can see that. Get on with it."

"Don't sass me, young man! My invention, my rules!"

The device hummed with energy for a few moments before there was a zap of energy, and Dr Brainstorm and Jack vanished from the lab, leaving our universe behind.

* * *

A short, slightly slumped over man parked his red minivan in front of a very official looking government building. He wore glasses and his hair was combed back in a very neat fashion wearing a professional black suit and tie.

"Alright, Steven," he said to himself, stepping out of the car and approaching the door. "It's your first day on the new government job... first time seeing top secret projects... Don't mess it up, don't mess it up..."

He walked up to the door and held an ID card up to a control panel with a red light adjacent to it. The panel beeped and the red light turned green, and Steven opened the door, revealing a long well lit corridor with a white tiled floor.

He gulped and started inside, the door slamming behind him and echoing through the hallway.

He walked through the corridor, before he finally came to a front desk, with a guard typing emotionlessly at his computer. He casually looked up at the approaching man.

"Name and department," he grumbled, uninterestedly, continuing to type.

"Erm... Steven Vaghn...," Steven started, slowly. "I'm in the... top secret department?"

The guard stared at Steven with dull eyes. "The top secret department?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... no one really told me anything cuz it was... secret..."

"Uh huh. Let me call this in real quick and we'll find out for ya."

The guard reached over and pushed a button on a small pager beside his pager.

"Hey Shack, you hired anyone called Steven Vaghn, lately?"

There was a pause against the static, then a very jovial voice returned the call.

"Oh YES! I see he's finally here! I'll be right out!"

"Uh-kay..." The guard, turned back to his typing. "Shack'll be out in a minute."

Steven paused. "Erm... I don't recall his name being on the application..."

"You said it was top secret, didn't you?"

"Oh... yeah... I guess so..."

Steven turned and started towards the waiting room. He sat down in one of the chairs, and began twiddling his thumbs, staring at the ceiling. He cleared his throat and reached down for a magazine sitting on the desk beside him. He picked it up and began thumbing through it. It was then that he noticed a figure in his peripheral vision.

He looked up to see a man sitting sideways in the chair beside him, sticking his giant grinning face into his own.

"AAUGH!" Steven stumbled back and fell out of the chair and onto his back.

"Whoops! Sorry, didn't mean to startle you like that!" the man grinned, jumping up and helping Steven up.

The man was wearing a very beat up straw hat with a tiny umbrella sticking out of the rim. He was wearing giant yellow rimmed sunglasses that only slightly obscured a very unnerving tick that was noticeable in both of his eyes. His wide grin spread across seventy five percent of his face, revealing teeth that were more than likely not brushed every day, and he had a long shred of straw bit between his teeth. He also wore a Hawaiian shirt with a fishing vest worn over the top of that and khaki shorts.

"It's… fine…," Steven mumbled, picking himself up and staring at horror at the man. "You're... my boss?"

The man's grin spread even wider. "Of course not, silly! I'm just a fellow employee! I'm here to take you to your boss! Allow my introduction to you! The name's Shack, and I'm definitely not insane!"

Steven moved his eyes from side to side. The guard at the desk had not reacted to any of this, and had simply continued with his monotone work. "Erm... right... So I guess... My boss?"

Shack cackled crazily and straightened his vest.

"Yes, of course! It's always hard to put formalities aside isn't it? I'm just so used to talking to people who don't respond to me! Follow me, follow me! To the labs!" And with that, Shack skipped off towards another hallway. Steven watched him, cautiously, before following suit.

"Yeah, this isn't that much different from my other jobs."

A figure was silently typing on the numerous computer keyboards in front of him. He moved his office chair from desk to desk, typing different things on each keyboard, in the dimly lit laboratory that surrounded him. He was as well wearing a jet black professional looking suit and tie, but he had a couple other accessories that struck off about him. He wore an old beat up plague doctor's mask that covered his entire face and hid his eyes. A hood covered the rest of his head from view, and draped behind him, almost like a cape. Surrounding him were several more desks with different computers and screens each displaying something different, and test tubes with unknown substances stacked the additional desks, all leading towards a darkened part of the room, which was closed off with glass with yellow and white caution paint and writing that read "AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY"

He continued his work in complete silence, when he heard the door at the back of the lab open. He turned his head to see Shack and Steven walking in.

"...And then there's my father who was a big fan of taxidermy!" Shack grinned, leading the terrified employee inside. "Well... he still is, anyway, because he's definitely not dead! Ha, haha ha... I love taxidermy, have I mentioned that, yet?"

"Yeah...," Steven said, unnerved. "Four times, now..."

"Shack, stop scaring the new worker," the man said in a smooth voice, standing up, and approaching.

Steven stared at him in shock as he offered his hand to shake.

"H-Hi... I'm Steven Vaghn... The new... person…," he stuttered, still shocked at the very not normal people in front of him.

"Charmed," the man said, shaking his hand. "I'm Doctor Shade. The top researcher in the facility. Has anyone briefed you on your job description, yet?"

"N-no..." Steven continued. "Everyone has been pretty hush-hush about anything I do here."

Shade nodded and turned away. "Good. You still have a lot of paperwork to sign before you get let in on what we're doing here," he said. "Provided, security is at an all-time low these days, so I'm thinking it's not going to be long before we can get you in."

"All right?" Steven started, scratching the back of his head. "Where do I begin?"

"You'll find an office in the back with a very kind secretary of ours," Shade said, motioning towards another door. "She'll brief you there. I predict you'll probably be placed in the offices for a while for recording experiment sessions. Is that alright with you?"

"Erm, yeah…," Steven said, nodding. "I'm honestly honored to even be here. I never thought I was going to be part of a top secret project with the government."

Shade chuckled. "Yes well, it's all very exciting," he said, walking back to his office chair. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Vaghn. I look forward to working with you to achieve a better tomorrow for everyone."

Steven paused. There was something very ominous in the way that he said that. He shrugged it off, and started for the door that Shade had pointed towards. He paused and turned back to his boss.

"Um... Dr Shade?" he began. Shade lifted his head and looked towards the new employee. "I hope I'm not like... intruding or anything, but I have to ask... why the mask?"

Shade stared at Steven for a long moment, before looking back down at his computers.

"I have bad breath," he said simply.

Steven stared at the man for a long moment, but decided it wise to not pursue the question further.

"Um... Okay..." He shrugged. "I'm... sorry..."

"Uh huh."

"I'll just... go to that briefing now..." Steven said, exiting the room.

"You do that."

Shack watched him go, then turned a grin onto his partner. "I like him! He seems very nice!" he said, happily.

"Yeah, I give him a week." Shade said simply, returning to his typing.

Shack ran up to Shade and began looking over his shoulder. "So what are you doing today? Can we access it yet? Are we done? Where's the exciting bit?"

Shade sighed and turned towards another computer. "Calm down, Shack, I still haven't found anything," he grumbled. "I have one I want to look into, though."

"Can I get the viewer ready?!" Shack asked, excitedly rubbing his hands together.

"Please do," Shade said, motioning towards the glassed off room.

Shack quickly ran over to a control panel and pushed a button. There was a hissing noise and the glass began raising from the ground, and lights began turning on around the darkened part of the room. This revealed a very large cone shaped machine with electricity crackling around the top parts and a chamber large enough to fit five or six people. The machine was plugged into several different control panels and other smaller machines, all humming electronically and flashing different color lights.

Shack flipped a switch on the panel before him and pulled down a large lever, causing the machine to roar to life. The chamber opened, and purple and blue electricity began flowing around it.

Shade picked up a clipboard and began reading off of it.

"Enter coordinates 25. .UI89."

Shack copied the code down, a little more happily than he should have.

The crackling around the chamber became more intense and ever so slowly, a portal began to open up.

"The void is open!" Shack shouted over the noise of the machine. "So what did you find in this universe?!"

"Nothing yet." Shade said, his tone unchanged. "I couldn't get the viewer to properly get a hold of it until now. I just increased the signal, so we should be..."

Suddenly, a loud bang resonated through the lab, knocking Shack off his feet, and the portal suddenly took on the shape and appearance of a window.

Shade approached the viewer and gazed intently into the portal. Although it wasn't seen, his expression very clearly became that of anger. "Another dud!" He shouted, angrily pounding his fist into the control panel. "Another god forsaken dud!"

Shack lifted himself up and peered into the portal. It appeared to simply mirror the rest of the lab surrounding them, with no apparent changes.

Shade stomped over the control panel Shack was at, and pulled the lever back up. Slowly, the humming of the machine died down, and the portal closed. The electricity ceased the chamber closed once again.

Shack looked over at Shade, who was leaning against the desk staring off into space, absently. "Sir?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Cross that off my list." Shade said simply, not looking up.

Shack nodded and ran over to the desk, and grabbing the clipboard, crossing out the number that had just been read off to him.

"Months, Shack... I've been searching for months...," he growled, shaking his head. "How long can I keep telling the higher ups that the rift opener isn't working, yet? How long before they cut off my funding?"

"Every big project has its setbacks, sir," Shack said, still retaining his grin, and running up to his boss. "You just gotta muddle through them! Whenever I'm feeling down, I just start thinking about stuffed animals!"

Shade turned a weird look onto Shack. "Aren't you a bit old for that?" he said.

"Well, animals I've stuffed of course," Shack laughed, patting Shade on the back.

"Should have seen that coming," Shade sighed, walking back to his desk. "There are infinite universes out there, Shack."

"I know, we have this discussion every week," Shack chuckled, walking over as well.

"I have observed over a thousand alternate universes in the months of my research..." Shade said, distantly. "So many months... and almost every universe I open up is simply a mirror of this universe with minuscule changes... I can't... I can't find any of the _exciting_ ones!"

"Minuscule?"

"Basically, a universe where everything is exactly the same, except in the conversation we're having right now, I'm sitting a little more to the left than I am in this universe."

Shack thought about that for a long moment. "Ouch... that would make for a lot of copies..."

"Yeah..."

"There was that one mirror universe you opened that one time!" Shack considered tapping his chin. "Remember our alternate selves? Edahs and Kcahs?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to forget that, thank you." Shade grumbled. "I don't ever need to be reminded of that alternate version of you..."

"The guy was nice, but he had no vision." Shack sighed. "What about that one universe that was made up almost entirely of toothbrushes?"

"Once again... Trying not to think about that, Shack..." Shade sighed and leaned forward on his desk, burying his face into his hands. "I'm so bored, Shack."

Shack stared at him. "Okay?" he said, finally. "Not something I was expecting to hear from a scientist like you, but I can understand."

"This place is just so... monotone..."

"Could always take up work in retail."

"Everything... every _one_... It's just... none of it interests me."

"I hear politics are a fun gig these days."

"I just... I just want to find a universe that's _interesting._ Is that so much to ask? Nothing ever happens here! I want to be somewhere where things happen!"

"Well, there was that one time that an alien spaceship appeared over the ocean where that one cruise liner went down." Shack pointed out.

"Oh yeah, you know how long that lasted?" Shade scoffed. "Like three days... Then everyone went back to stalking celebrities and complaining about people offending each other."

"Yeah there is that," Shack admitted.

"Just one..." Shade mumbled. "I just need to find _one..._ universe... that isn't just a copy of this one... Just one..."

Shack stared down at the clipboard in his hands. Written on it were several numbers and lists of possible coordinates, all of which were scratched out... except for one.

"What about this one? Have you checked this universe yet?" Shack asked.

"Which one?"

"The one you marked as 'Luna'."

"It's another copy universe." Shade said simply.

Shack blinked. "Okay... Why isn't is crossed out, yet?"

Shade sighed. "Okay, I haven't checked it, yet, but in all honesty, with the luck I've been having today... What are the chances it's anything? Seriously?"

"Why'd you mark it 'Luna'?"

"I picked up on a bit of audio from the universe." Shade said, simply. "Someone said the word 'Lunanix', in reference to a city. I just scribbled it down."

"Lunanix?" Shack said, scratching his head. "Where's that?"

"I dunno, isn't it somewhere in Canada?" Shade shrugged.

"I dropped out of geography," Shack grinned.

"Well I don't know where it is. I've never heard of it," Shade shrugged.

There was a moment of silence.

"Shack, do you have your smartphone on you?"

Shack grinned. "Nope. I dropped it in the trash compactor again!"

"For the love of... How do you keep doing that?!" Shade demanded, moving over to a computer.

"I keep leaning over the top of it, and dropping things in it. My phones just happen to keep falling out of my pocket!"

"What are you dropping into the... don't answer that, I want to be able to eat today..." Shade grumbled, typing 'Lunanix' into the search engine that he brought up. He scanned over the various YouTube and Instagram accounts, coming up with nothing of vague interest.

He went back and typed 'Lunanix city location'.

This brought up noticeably less results with a couple different Facebook pages, random pdf files talking about moon cycles, and one Tumblr page belonging to a preteen girl insisting that she identified as a tri-gender Moon Lion.

"Shack…," Shade said, slowly.

"Yes sir?"

"Start up the viewer..."

* * *

There was a flash of light, and Dr Brainstorm and Jack found themselves standing in the middle of a large beautiful Gothic city. They stumbled for a moment before looking around and taking in the sights.

"Wow…," Jack breathed. "Pretty posh digs."

"Excellent!" Dr Brainstorm exclaimed. "Let's look around. Remember – we're looking for something called a 'star crystal'!"

"Noted."

They walked off into the town. They saw a lot of shops and businesses lining the streets, all of them very eccentric-looking. They saw a sign that stood on the edge of town, nailed onto a long piece of wood. Taking a moment to examine, they found it was the name of the city.

"Lunanix," Jack murmured.

"Sounds like a nocturnal baseball team," Dr Brainstorm muttered, walking past it. "Come on, let's check out some of the shops."

They walked further into town, and they took in the locals. They were all dressed as you might have imagined people in Victorian times would, with waistcoats, cravats, corsets, and top hats. There were even some people wearing some very steampunk goggles and scarves as well. They were all waving hello as Dr Brainstorm and Jack passed them.

"Welcome to Lunanix!" one gentleman called out.

Dr Brainstorm waved pleasantly. "Thank you!" he called out. Then he muttered to Jack, "Man, pleasant people are _annoying_."

"Far too jaunty," Jack agreed. "Let's try to keep this quick, huh?"

They walked into the first shop they saw and almost immediately, they regretted it. It was clearly a tourist trap. Nothing but a bunch of trinkets and decorations. Tiny little knickknacks that no one in their right mind would want to purchase unless they were from out of town and needed proof that they'd taken a vacation.

"Nice to see tacky trinkets are a phenomenon that transverses _all_ realities," Jack muttered, fingering a few of them.

"They sure as heck don't _look_ like star crystals," Dr Brainstorm added.

The store owner came walking up to them, looking at them inquiringly. He was dressed for all the world like a common Victorian gentleman, complete with waistcoat, frock coat, top hat and nicely tailored trousers. "Good evening, gentlemen," he said pleasantly. "Can I help you find anything?"

They looked him up and down. He seemed perfectly human.

"Er, yes," Jack said. "We're from out of town. We're looking for…'star crystals'. Do you know anything about those?"

The shopkeeper laughed. "Oh, is that right? I could've guessed you were from out of town. Never seen clothes like _that_ before."

Dr Brainstorm looked down at his lab coat and casual clothing underneath. "I shop at Goodwill," he grumbled.

The shopkeeper continued. "If it's star crystals you're after, you need to look at the more high end stores. Those are further uptown. Good luck, though. They're only on the market very briefly, provided they don't get flat out stolen."

"Ah," Dr Brainstorm said. "Very popular, are they?"

"Oh yes. Now, if you're not buying anything, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm closing up shop soon. You'd better get to wherever you're staying soon. Night's coming, after all."

Confused at this, Dr Brainstorm and Jack nodded and exited the shop. They observed the sky and saw that the sun was indeed beginning to set. The sky was mostly dark blue at this point, with a swirling blast of purple and orange as the sun was disappearing behind the buildings.

"Curious," Dr Brainstorm said.

Jack looked around the city. They could see all the various shops were beginning to close up. Doors were being locked and windows had their shades down. People were running out of the shops and bolting up and down the sidewalks.

"Shall we follow the chaos?" Jack asked.

"Let's."

They ran with the rest of the people, trying to see where they were all going. They seemed to be breaking up into factions. Some were running into apartment buildings. Others continued running until they were heading into individual houses in a somewhat Victorian suburb.

"They're… going home," Dr Brainstorm. "What is so important that they've all got to run home at sundown?"

Jack shrugged. "Chucking out time?"

Some people shoved past them. "Get out of the way!" a man yelled angrily.

"Stop blocking the sidewalk, idiots!" a woman snapped.

Dr Brainstorm and Jack stared in open bewilderment. Were those the same people who had so pleasantly greeted them earlier?

"Such rudeness!" Dr Brainstorm snapped. "What happened to the annoying cheerful people of this world? I swear, if every single one of these people can't keep their personalities consistent, I'm going to have to – _OOF_!"

He was shoved to the ground by even more people all stampeding towards their houses. A few obscenities were shouted as they ran inside and locked their doors.

Jack looked down at him. "You've got a mouthful of grass from another universe. What a scientific achievement," he deadpanned.

Dr Brainstorm struggled onto his hands and knees, spitting out topsoil. He was just about to stagger onto his feet when he noticed a pair of feet that were not running. In fact, they were standing right in front of him. He look up until he saw they belonged to a man who was wearing a mask that looked like it belonged to a toucan, with the long hooked beak. He wore a hood over his head that swooped down like a cape and surrounded a smart black suit.

The man tutted behind his mask. "Dear me, sir. Are you all right? The nerve of some people."

Dr Brainstorm stared up at him for a long time. He couldn't help but noticed the man was making no effort to help him up. He glanced at Jack, who looked just as surprised as he did. He staggered upright and looked around. He noticed another man was walking up to join them. This one was a shorter and skinnier man in a Hawaiian shirt with a straw hat, with a piece of wheat between his teeth, completing the useless bumpkin look he seemed to be going for, which was only enhanced by his somewhat unhinged expression.

"Howdy do!" he said cheerfully.

There was something about their attire that was putting the two off a bit. It didn't fit in with what they'd seen so far. If what the shopkeeper had said was true, then it meant something odd was happening.

"… You're not from around here, are you?" Dr Brainstorm asked, now finally getting to his feet.

"… The name's Dr Shade. Pleasure to make you." No offer to shake his hand.

"I'm Shack! Pleasure!" Completely overenthusiastic offer to shake his hand.

Dr Brainstorm awkwardly shook the crazed man's hand. "Dr Brainstorm."

"And Jack T Robot," Jack added, also shaking Shack's hand.

"What a thrill!" Shack exclaimed. "It's so neat to meet you, Jack! You're so cool!"

"… You've only known me for seven seconds."

"You've been counting, too? That's so considerate! We're going to be the very best of friends! I can tell!"

Jack took an uncertain step away from Shack, which he quickly compensated for by taking two steps closer.

Shade continued the conversation. "So, Dr Brainstorm – what brings you here? You don't seem to be from the area either?"

"Er… vacation. Just had to get away from it all."

"Indeed? Where are you from?"

"Ummm… the north?"

"I see…"

"What about you? Where are you two from?"

"The south," Shade replied smoothly.

Dr Brainstorm stared at his eyes through the mask. "I see…"

"I suspect you do."

Jack and Shack looked between their respective masters. Then they looked at each other. Shack grinned winningly, causing Jack to back away again.

Dr Brainstorm took a step closer to Shade. "I don't know who you are or how you got here," he whispered, getting as close as the mask allowed him. "But you've already worked out we're all from another universe."

Shade gave a brief nod. "Indeed. I demand to know what you think you're doing here."

"I'm here to take over our original world. And I intend to do it with supplies gathered from this universe."

The eyes behind the mask got very angry-looking, and it was clear a nerve had been touched. "You're going to take over the world?"

"I believe I just said that. Way to go."

To the surprise of everyone, Shade suddenly reared back and punched Dr Brainstorm, sending him crashing straight back down to the ground. He held his jaw in pain as he struggled to get back up again.

"What was that for?!" he demanded, flexing his jaw like a masticating cow.

"I can't allow you to just walk in and take over the world!" Shade said in a controlled but undeniably angry voice.

"And why the heck not?"

"Because that would mean the end of everything I've ever worked for!"

Jack cleared his throat and spoke up. "Um… what exactly _have_ you worked for?"

"My research! My business! My desires, hopes and dreams!"

"Boring!" Dr Brainstorm replied, and he jumped up and tackled Shade to the ground. "The world is mine, and I'm going to take it!"

Shade wrestled him right back. "No! I have work that needs to be done! You're not going to stop me!"

Jack watched the two men fighting on the ground in stupefied silence. Shack just stood there, continuing to chew on that stick of wheat. He didn't look very surprised. "He doesn't like people getting in the way of his work," he said, putting a comradely arm around the robot.

Jack just looked at him like he was a nut and shrugged him off. He walked over to where Dr Brainstorm and Shade were fighting and attempted to break them up. "Okay, guys, let's slow down a bit. We can still talk this out."

The two men didn't even notice him, and Shade inadvertently kicked him in the nose, sending him crashing to the ground.

"… Or not," he finished, straightening it out.

Dr Brainstorm struggled a little longer with Shade. He knew he could fight more effectively if he didn't have to rely on his physical strength. He just needed to force him off long enough to grab the one thing that he knew would help him most. He twisted around until he got himself curled into a ball, and he had Shade on top of him, trying to get his hands around his neck. His feet uncurled with such force that the other man was flung off of him, and he was free just long enough to get his hand inside his coat pocket and aim a familiar device at him.

"Servant Ray – do _not_ incapacitate this man!"

There was a crackle of energy that arced through the air and struck Shade in his chest, forcing him to stay on the ground. It buzzed and crackled like a bunch of angry bees, holding him down. He flailed helplessly, but it was no good.

Dr Brainstorm made it back to his feet. He dusted himself off. "Well, well, well," he said smugly, waving his prized invention in the air. "Looks like I have the upper hand now, good sir."

Shade growled at him. "You may for now, Dr Brain _less_ , but I have every intention of returning."

"… Returning?"

Shade looked over at Shack. "Take us home, Shack! We must take time to properly prepare for this development!"

"Got it, boss," Shack replied. He pulled out a little handheld device and pressed a few buttons before shaking hands with Jack again. "See you around, Jack! Can't wait for our next hang out!"

"I can," Jack replied with false cheeriness.

There was a flash, and Shade and Shack disappeared from the world, leaving behind the crackling ball of energy, which was now eating a small hole in the ground. Dr Brainstorm stared at the spot in a stupor before silently pressing a button on the Servant Ray, deactivating it and leaving a small crater for others to ponder over.

"Well!" he said, pocketing the device. "Got that over and done with. Now back to business."

Jack shook his head. "What're we going to do when he inevitably comes back?"

"Who cares? We're just here for a lousy star crystal or three. We'll nab them and head back before he's ready."

"I guess so…"

It was then that they noticed something peculiar about the area around them. It was darker than it had been when they first met Shade. The sun had finished going down, and they were now in a darkened street. Nighttime had fallen. They looked around at all the houses on the street and saw they were dark and boarded up.

"Hmmm… Seems everyone has gone home for the night. Must be time for late night television…," Dr Brainstorm mused.

"Remember what the shopkeeper said," Jack reminded him. "He told us to get home and lock up before nightfall."

"So… something drives the people to hide themselves all night?"

They looked around curiously, now painfully aware of the utter darkness they were consumed by.

"What's so horrible that everyone decides to run and hide every night?" the mad scientist murmured.

They started to walk back into the city. Everywhere they went was the same – boarded up without a soul in sight. It was downright spooky, putting them both on edge.

"This is creepy," Jack muttered. "Everyone's just up and left."

However, after a few moments, they noticed that the world was taking on a dim red hue. They looked around, trying to figure out what had happened, when they looked up towards the sky. They saw a brilliant red star hanging above them, looking like a giant red beacon.

"Fascinating," Dr Brainstorm murmured.

Jack looked at his creator and couldn't help but be a bit concerned over how calm he was. It was like he was totally at ease instead of his usual shouty hyperactive self. He wasn't spouting random knowledge or getting frustrated at the lack of star crystals. He was so laid back he might as well be a beach bum from California.

"Frank, are you okay?"

"Hmmm? Oh, I'm fine, Jack." And he went back to observing the star.

No angry correction. He _definitely_ wasn't fine.

Then, Jack heard something in his audio receivers that sounded like gushing water. He shivered as he remembered the incident last summer on the cruise ship where they'd seen Calvin nearly drown. He looked over his shoulder at the source and saw one of the streets they were near was slowly flooding. The water didn't seem to be about to reach them anytime soon, and it wasn't very high, but it was definitely filling the street.

"That's odd," he murmured. "Wonder what's causing that…"

Dr Brainstorm followed his gaze and shrugged lazily. "Sewers must be baking up."

At that moment, Jack detected some sort of movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, there was nothing to see. He frowned in confusion, beginning to grow a bit concerned.

"Something tells me we need to get off the street sometime soon," he said urgently.

"You're the boss," Dr Brainstorm replied, blinking out of synch.

Yeah, something was _definitely_ wrong.

Jack grabbed him roughly by the arm and dragged him away from the flooding street towards one of the nearest apartment buildings. He saw the door was locked and tried knocking on the door.

"Hello?" he called out.

There was no response.

He knocked again. "Hello?"

Still nothing.

He pounded on the door. "Hey, come on! Open up! We need a place to stay!"

But no one came to their aid.

Then Jack thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, and once again, he turned to look. Still nothing to be found. Just the red-tinted town, the flooding streets, and Dr Brainstorm looking for all the world like he was going to pass out on the curb.

"Frank, listen to me," he said urgently. "I really think we need to get out of here now. Go back to our own universe and figure out what's going on."

"Huh…?" It took three seconds for him to respond. "Oh, right… yeah… Okeydokey, Annie Oakley…" He proceeded to fumble with his lab coat's inner pocket, trying to find the dimension hopper, but he was so tired he couldn't find it.

Frustrated, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled it out himself. "Okay, you need to grab onto the other end, Frank."

Dr Brainstorm blinked out of synch again. "Uh huh…"

He proceeded to make a series of pathetic grabs for the other handle, but he kept missing. Jack grumbled and grabbed his hand, wrapping it around the other handle. He was just about to press the necessary button when heard a low guttural growl coming from all directions.

He looked up from the device and saw that they had been surrounded by several very large and tall wolf-like creatures. They were walking on their hind legs, growling at them with angry eyes, and in the glow of the red star, they looked like they'd emerged from Hell itself.

And they were beginning to close in on them.


	3. Unloading the Sibling

Jack's eyes darted around in all directions. He could count at least five of the wolf like creatures surrounding them. He figured more were probably lurking in the darkness, but he chose to focus on the positive / hopeful part of the situation.

He looked back around to Brainstorm. His eyes were fluttering open and shut, and he didn't appear to be aware of what was happening.

"Frank, I really am going to need you to snap out of this!" He shouted, taking hold of Brainstorm's shoulder.

"Jack... I have complete... control... of the situation..." The mad scientist mumbled, beginning to sway back and forth slightly.

The werewolves continued closing in. The closest one snarled, menacingly and begin raising its arms, its thick furry hands trembling with anticipation of their impending kill.

Jack continued frantically trying to get Brainstorm to hold onto the device, but his hands kept slipping off of it.

Jack growled in both frustration and fear as tried to support his collapsing companion. Then, a light of realization came on in his eyes.

"Frank, I hate to do this to do you but we're kind of in a situation..." He said, holding his hand up.

Brainstorm didn't even respond, as Jack held up a single finger, and a needle began to extend out of it. With a tremendous force, Jack stabbed the needle into Brainstorm's arm.

This finally received a reaction.

"OOOOOOOWWWWWWW!"

The werewolves paused, slightly taken aback by the mad scientist's sudden outburst, as he shot up out of Jack's arms, and held his own arm in pain.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"

"A mix of adrenaline, caffeine and some steroids which probably aren't entirely healthy to directly inject into your bloodstream..." Jack said casually, shaking the needle and retracting it back into his hand.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!"

"Well the comedic value was definitely not overlooked."

"DARN IT JACK! WE DON'T KNOW HOW THAT WILL AFFECT ME IN THE LONG RUN!"

"Well how do you feel?"

"COMPLETELY AWAKE!"

"Might want to look around then."

"DON'T YOU START TELLING ME WHAT DO NOW! I WILL LOOK AROUND WHEN I FEE-" Brainstorm cut off and looked around. The werewolves were still there. A couple of them looking entirely offended at the lack of fear their prey was displaying. "...Oh..." He said in a more quiet voice.

"Yeah." Jack nodded.

There was a moment of silence.

We should leave." Brainstorm said, still not moving from the position he was in when he was previously shouting.

"Yeah," Jack said once again, in a more sarcastic tone.

Finally deciding he had seen enough, the largest werewolf reared up and threw its head to the sky and let out a chilling howl. The rest of the werewolves followed suit one by one before they were all howling to the sky with Brainstorm and Jack slowly looking around them.

"Jack..." Brainstorm hissed. "Where's the dimension hopper?"

Jack's eyes went to the stone walkway. In the process of waking Brainstorm up, the device had been dropped, and was laying on the ground, with a couple of the lights still blinking on it, waiting to be activated.

But before either of them could act, the lead wolf stopped howling and made a swipe for Dr Brainstorm.

"YIKES!" He shouted, barely dodging the blow. The other werewolves began growling and began lumbering towards the two.

"RUN!" Brainstorm shouted, and without a second thought, he and Jack fled in the only direction that didn't have teeth at the end of it.

Several of the alleys were blocked off with fences, giving the two little room for escape. Brainstorm and Jack could hear the werewolves behind him snarling and pounding after them.

 _Emergency Temporal Suspension activated_

Suddenly, with no warning, everything stopped. Brainstorm halted in mid step and froze in place. the werewolves as well froze in mid leap, one of them preparing to pounce on the mad scientist. Jack continuing sprinting for about three seconds until he realized what happened.

He skidded to a stop and looked all around. It was as if a time pauser had been activated, but he knew he didn't have one. In the back of his head he noticed a very distinct albeit slow ticking sound. His brow furrowed, and he walked back up to Brainstorm and the werewolves.

"What in the...?"

 _Temporal suspension will expire in 65 seconds._

Jack shook his head slightly in confusion. He could hear his own voice speaking in his head. For most people that's a sign of insanity and possible need for some kind of drug. In a robot's case, it means something's been turned on that he didn't know about.

"What's going on?" He grumbled looking around.

 _Emergency Temporal Suspension has been automatically initiated._

Jack paused.

"Kay... What's that?"

 _In the event of a life threatening situation, temporal suspension is to be activated to allow Jack T. Robot's assessment and eventual solution to survive said situation. Temporal Suspension shifts self repair nanobots to overdrive to greatly accelerate thought processing, visual interpretation and movement process, to take on the appearance of a time pauser._

Jack looked over at Brainstorm and the werewolves again. Upon a closer look, he now noticed that they were all still moving, albeit so slowly it was nearly impossible to see.

"Oh yeah, the moving faster thing." Jack nodded, now remembering. "Yeah, Frank put that in when he installed the nanobots like... I dunno, seven or eight years ago. Ya know, there were so many other instances where this feature would have saved our rear ends with so much less stress... Why is it just now turning on?"

 _This feature was installed by Dr Franklin J. Brainstorm._

"Oh, yeah... That... makes more sense..." Jack grumbled.

 _Temporal suspension will expire in 45 seconds._

"Alright... Let's see what we got. How fast are Frank and I running?"

 _Speed calculated at approximately twelve miles per hour._

"How fast are the werewolves running?"

 _Speed calculated at approximately forty three miles per hour. Estimated real life time before demise is 0.3 seconds._

Jack sighed in frustration and scanned his surroundings.

Beside them, he and Brainstorm were in the process of passing an abandoned horse carriage. Not too far away, he saw a street lamp which seemed oddly out of place considering the Victorian setting they were in. The lamp was emitting a strange dim white light which only lightly illuminated a small portion of the sidewalk. However, it was enough light for the robot to notice an open alley behind it.

 _Temporal suspension will expire in 25 seconds._

Jack walked over the front of the carriage. He leaned up against it, and began pushing it until it slowly began moving backwards. Finally, the carriage was even with the werewolves. Jack then walked over to the side and gave it another hard push, this one slightly lifting it from the ground, and freezing it in mid air. The robot then walked over the alley and peered inside. It was dark, but appeared empty, other than a few rats and a couple trash cans. Nodding in satisfaction, he walked back over to his mad scientist companion.

With a mighty heave, he lifted the mad scientist up and threw him over his shoulder, and began walking back towards the alley. He strolled inside, and laid Brainstorm down on his side, before sitting down on the concrete himself.

 _Temporal suspension will expire in 10 seconds._

Jack yawned and waited. His only regret was not getting to see what was going to happen outside. Slowly the ticking in the back of his head began getting louder and faster, before suddenly, sounding as though someone pulled a speaker out from underwater, everything accelerated back to normal.

The carriage collapsed with a mighty crash on top of a couple of the werewolves. They yelped in pain, as they proceeded to tear the carriage apart in their effort to escape. In the process of that, the other werewolves stopped in their tracks, looking around in confusion at what had happened. From their perspective, they just watched their prey vanish, and a carriage that was sitting silently beside where they were passing, had instantaneously appeared in the air above them. After surveying their surroundings and finding nothing, the wolves once again howled ominously at the sky before splitting up and dashing off into the darkness.

Brainstorm writhed on the ground for a second, still thinking he was sprinting, before he realized what was going on.

He jumped to his feet and held his fists up, spinning 360 degrees searching for the wolves.

"WHAT THE...?" He started, until Jack put a hand over his mouth, and held a finger up to his own to silence him.

"What just happened?!" Brainstorm hissed, looking around to make sure nothing had noticed him.

"Yeah you remember that movement accelerator thing you installed in me a few years back?"

"No!"

"Yeah well, that just happened."

" _What_ just happened?!"

"Super speed"

"You mean to tell me you have super speed and you never told me?!" Brainstorm demanded.

Jack sighed.

"Considering you're the one who put it in, I'd think you'd have known." He said. "Also, you know perfectly well I don't pay attention nor care about anything you install in me."

"Oh, but you were _soooooo_ happy about the internal wifi receiver, but you don't remember me installing super speed?"

"That about sums me up." Jack nodded.

"What else can you do that I'm unaware of?!"

"Well, I was trying to log into Facebook the other day and I accidentally hacked into the U.S. government's nuclear launch codes. Apparently I can do that, now."

"And you didn't tell me this, _why?!_ " Brainstorm demanded.

"Seems I forgot until just now."

"Can you do it again?!"

"I don't remember how I did it, I was on Facebook for god's sake."

Brainstorm growled in frustration.

"Did you at least grab the dimension hopper?"

Jack's eyes blanked out.

"Oh yeah, I figured I was forgetting something."

"DARN IT, JACK!"

Jack hushed the mad scientist once again.

Suddenly, they heard a crashing in the trash cans behind them.

The two froze and looked over at them slowly. It was then that they noticed a dark, scrawny figure looming over the bin. Without a sound, it ignored Brainstorm and Jack and stuck its head inside, seemingly eating something inside.

Brainstorm and Jack exchanged glances.

"Was that here a second ago?" Brainstorm hissed.

Jack shook his head, silently.

Brainstorm nodded. "Let's not talk to him.." He suggested.

"Good plan." Jack two began backing up, slowly. In the process, Brainstorm accidently stepped on a crumpled up piece of paper.

At the sound of this, the figure looked up and its head jerked towards Brainstorm and Jack, revealing two glowing white eyes. They froze.

The figure let go of the trash can, allowing it to clank back against the wall, before it took a quick but singular step towards the two.

"I should warn you!" Brainstorm announced nervously lifting his finger and pointing at the figure. "I will be your future ruler! And... I will remember if you cross me!"

The figure growled and stepped into the light. The sight of the creature, to say the least, did not sit well with either of the two. Although it resembled human, the creature was completely bald, and had no fat or muscle underneath its skin, which clung sickly to its bones. It wore very tattered and ripped clothing, as if it had once been a normal person, and as it snarled at Brainstorm it revealed two very distinctive fangs protruding from the top row of otherwise normal looking teeth. Its mouth and face were covered in blood and in its right hand it was tightly gripping an equally bloody dead rat.

Brainstorm and Jack stared at the creature in stunned silence.

"Is that a..." Brainstorm started.

"Looks like." Jack nodded.

"Why is there a vampire, Jack?"

"Don't know. Shall I ask?"

"No... So yeah, that super speed?"

"Don't know how to turn it on."

"Wonderful..."

The vampire screeched and sprinted towards the two. Brainstorm and Jack yelped in fear and spun around, attempting to run, but Jack was quickly pounced to the ground.

"OOF!" Jack and the vampire both collapsed on the ground and the two began struggling with each other. Brainstorm stopped and turned back around.

"UNHAND MY ASSITANT!" He bellowed, bravely taking a step towards the battle.

The vampire's head shot up and it hissed at Brainstorm, who promptly took a step back.

"...Please?" He said a little more sheepishly.

"Don't be too heroic or anything, Frank." Jack said, flatly.

The vampire snarled and bit down hard on the robot's neck.

 _CLANK_

The monster reeled back and held its mouth in pain. It stared at Jack incredulously, and began backing away from him.

Jack casually stood up. The vampire hissed angrily at him, before giving Brainstorm a foreboding look and dashing away into the darkness.

Brainstorm blinked.

"You forgot I'm made of metal didn't you?" Jack sighed.

"No!" Brainstorm said, defensively. "Maybe... Let's just leave!"

And with that, he spun around and sprinted out of the alley.

Jack sighed and turned as well, only to see Brainstorm running back.

"Yeah, we're not going that way!" He said, pushing Jack further into the alley.

"Oooh, What now?!" Jack groaned.

Upon speaking, he then heard what sounded like moans and shrieks of pain coming from the outside of the alley.

Jack heaved a long deep sigh, as he began seeing several pale and bloody moaning people stumbling over each other and reaching for the mad scientist.

Brainstorm backed against the wall, looking around in all directions.

"ALRIGHT JACK!" He screamed over the defeaning sounds of the approaching shadows. "WE'RE SURROUNDED BY ZOMBIES WITH NO WAY OUT!"

"Appears so."

"WE'VE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION BEFORE! WHAT DO WE DO?!"

"Have any garlic?"

"THAT'S FOR VAMPIRES!"

"Well I don't know, has anyone ever tried garlic on zombies, before?"

" _ **I DON'T HAVE ANY GARLIC!**_ "

"At least I'm coming up with ideas."

"Do you think we could scale the wall?!"

Jack stared at Brainstorm blankly, taking zero threat in the approaching dead people behind him.

"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"There's probably some loose bricks here! We can climb the walls and escape via rooftops!" Brainstorm shouted, frantically searching the wall behind him. "I saw it on the History Channel once!"

"Oh, that channel hasn't been about history in I don't even know how long."

"JACK, HELP ME!"

"And what are we going to do about the gargoyles awaiting us up top?"

Brainstorm stopped and looked up.

He saw two stone gargoyles glaring down at them with glowing yellow eyes. One of them roared and extended its wingspan out, lifting off and circling the alley like a vulture.

"OH COME ON!" Brainstorm screamed. "WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!"

Jack looked back around. The zombies were almost upon them.

"I don't... actually see a way out of this..." He said quietly.

And suddenly, without warning, another sound began to reach Brainstorm and Jack's ears. This was not anything that was alive or undead. It was a very unsettling sound, nonetheless, and before the two knew where it was coming from, it way already upon them. The sound of metal sliding across metal

 _SSHK SSHK SSHKK SSHK SSHK SSHK_

Brainstorm and Jack looked around in all directions before suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a hooded figure stepped out of the darkness and faced the zombies in front of the two terrified bystanders. The black cloak covered his face, and the only visibly part of his body were two white gauntlets, held out in front of him. Around the gauntlets were long and twisting armbands with small glowing white crystals embedded in them. However, that's not what caught Brainstorm and Jack's eyes. Gripped in each of the figure's hands were two black steam punk looking chainsaw swords. Each of them had blades and curves extending around the holder's hands, and the chains on the swords were spinning like real chainsaws. The unsettling sound, at that point, began to make sense. It's what a chainsaw would sound like with no motor.

Brainstorm and Jack stared at the figure in absolute shock.

"Hi." Brainstorm said, quietly.

The figure didn't respond. It simply moved one of its feet backwards, pushing a small device towards Brainstorm and Jack.

"You dropped this." He said in a scrappy voice.

Brainstorm and Jack looked down, and saw Brainstorm's dimension hopper, sitting silently on the ground.

"Oh... Thanks.." Brainstorm said, shakily, bending down and picking it up.

"No problem." The figure replied.

And with that one of the zombies was finally upon the three.

In a very quick motion, the figure brought his sword down onto the zombie as it went to bite his gauntlet. Another went for his other arm, but whoever was under the cloak clearly knew what he was doing, as he stabbed it in the shoulder and used it as a stabilizer to do a front flip over the top of the other zombies, and into the crowd.

Having now lost interest in Brainstorm and Jack, the horde turned and began after the figure, still moaning and screaming. Brainstorm and Jack watched this unfold, still stunned at the figure's sudden appearance.

"I really don't like it here." Jack said, finally.

"I agree. Let's leave..." Brainstorm said, hurriedly, holding the dimension hopper up. Before he turned it on, however, he noticed a small light from the ground. He looked down and saw a very distinctly white glowing crystal laying motionless on the ground where it had fallen from the chainsaw sword wielding figure's arm band.

"HOLD UP!" He shouted causing Jack to jump slightly. The mad scientist rushed over and snatched the rock up.

Ignoring the moaning and screaming from outside the alley, Brainstorm held the crystal up and squinted at it, rotating it around with this thumb and forefinger.

The light, strangely matching that from the outside street lamps, was surreal looking. While the surrounding reality around them almost seemed to have a layer of dark insanity and evil around it, the light from this rock seemed to penetrate through it. The range of everything the light would reach, be it ever so small, had the familiar sense of normality to it, as if time and space was bending around it. Upon holding it longer, Brainstorm began noticing a significant amount of non-caffine induced energy returning to his body, and the crystal had a barely noticeable vibration to it.

"Ten to one says I found something important." Brainstorm said, a giant grin spreading across his face.

"That's fantastic... Can we leave now?" Jack growled, still eyeing the gargoyles above, which were beginning to attempt clawing their way into the alley, despite their giant stone bodies being too wide for it.

"Right, leaving... On it!" Brainstorm leaped up, and raced over to Jack, grabbing the device and hitting the button. The machine whirred and hummed, and a brilliant purple and blue light began surrounding the two.

"Well Jack, I can honestly say this has been completely worth the stress and possible years lost off of my life!" Brainstorm said, proudly.

"Whatever you say, Frank." Jack sighed.

And with that, there was a flash of light and the sound of electricity crackling as Brainstorm and Jack disappeared from the alley.

* * *

To say the least, Calvin was not expecting one of his least threatening enemies / sometimes friends to appear out of literal nowhere in front of him and from the sight of things, neither did the cult. Everyone stared at the mad scientist in shock as he straightened himself and continued yelling at his robot companion, before turning and screaming instead at Calvin.

"AND AS FOR YOU!" He shouted. "CAN'T I GO TEN MINUTES WITHOUT YOU BARGING IN ON LITERALLY EVERYTHING I'M DOING?!"

"In my defense, you barraged in on me." Calvin grumbled.

"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!" Brainstorm screamed.

Suddenly, the cult members began chanting quietly and bringing their hands motionless to their sides.

Brainstorm and Jack looked around them cautiously.

"Uuuh..." Jack started.

"Oh don't worry, they do that." Calvin assured.

Jack blinked.

"Oi," MTM suddenly piped in. "The rift is closed. All systems are back online."

Calvin grinned. "Everything?"

"Yes, I recommend we teleport..."

"Great idea!" Calvin interrupted. "Teleport everyone here!"

MTM sighed.

"Yeah... That's exactly what I was going to say."

"Well hurry up! We have an evil cult to deal with."

"Mmkay."

 _BRAZAP!_

There was a flash of light, and all of a sudden, four more people appeared in the forest.

Interestingly enough, all four of them had been asleep during their teleportation. As they appeared, each lingering for a split second in the air in their own respective sleeping position, Andy, Sherman, Socrates and Hobbes all collapsed in a heap on the ground in front of Calvin, resulting in one collective "OOF"

"Oh god lordy in heaven!" Socrates yelped. "Who am I and where are you?!"

"I was afraid that was gonna happen." Hobbes muttered, his face still buried in the grass.

Andy groaned and picked himself up off the ground, wearing his striped pajamas and acquiring the usual annoyed expression he gets whenever he gets teleported without his knowledge.

"Never a little warning?" He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Everyone accounted for?"

"Regrettably..." Sherman's voice was heard from the grass. He picked himself up, also wearing a tiny pajama set.

"Good, everyone's here." Calvin nodded. "Guys, this is the evil cult that captured my babysitter."

Everyone turned and stared at the hooded figures, expect for Hobbes, who was still laying face down in the dirt.

"Just when I thought we were running out of weird scenarios." Socrates sighed, shaking his head.

"Brainstorm's here, too. He'll probably end up helping us out at some point." Calvin added.

"WILL NOT!"

"And Jack is here to provide insight as well."

"Yo."

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone jumped at the sound the shrill voice and Hobbes finally leapt to attention, and the woman from before stepped forward, slouching slightly and trembling with either anger or general insanity. "YOU WILL ALL MAKE FINE TREATS FOR OUR FATHER UPON HIS RESSERECTION!"

Everyone stared at her.

"Oh yeah, then there's her." Calvin mentioned. "She yells a lot and most of it doesn't make sense. I've given up on translating."

"Is she part of the threat?" Sherman asked.

"Define 'threat'." Calvin said, tilting his head, slightly.

The woman threw her head back and screeched. Everyone flinched and covered their ears at the sound. The other cult members followed suit, until the forest was deafened by the shrill screaming of at least fifteen people.

"SHUT THEM UP!" Socrates bellowed, holding his ears down over his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

"JACK! ACTIVATE TELEPORTER! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Brainstorm screamed.

"What?" Jack asked, the only person not holding his head in pain, as he turned to Brainstorm.

"I SAID ACTIVATE TELEPORTER!"

"Activate what?" Jack said, raising his eyebrows.

" _ **TELEPOTER!**_ "

"Recorder? Why the heck do you want to record this?"

Brainstorm took a step towards Jack to repeat his previous line, and in the process, dropped the glowing item he had been holding in his hands.

The crystal plopped silently on the ground, and the glowing illuminated the small patch of grass it laid upon.

This resulted in almost instant silence.

The cult members all stopped, and muttered among themselves silently, looking around cautiously and some were even starting to back away. The tattered woman stared at Brainstorm with an expression of fear and disgust.

Everyone turned and stared at Brainstorm.

"The heck did you just do?" Calvin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What is that light?!" the woman hissed, also starting to back away slightly.

Brainstorm looked all around before he finally noticed his star crystal sitting in the grass.

"Ah, my unlimited power source. Jack! Fetch that for me, will you?"

"No."

"JACK! ACQUIRE THE STAR CRYSTAL OR I WILL BE ISSUING YOU ANOTHER WRITE UP!"

"You get written warnings now?" Andy asked.

"Gives him an excuse to use the boxes of red construction paper we never ended up using for anything," Jack nodded.

Brainstorm growled to himself and stomped over to the crystal, snatching it up. As he did so, several of the cult members shouted in fright and fled the scene, darting into the forest and out of sight.

Brainstorm's brow furrowed in confusion as he watched the fleeing people. Then a light came on in his eyes and he looked down at the glowing crystal in his hand. An evil grin spread across his face.

* * *

"So are they actually doing anything yet or are they still yelling at each other?"

Not too far away, two figures were sitting behind a bush. In the darkness, the long beak of a plague mask was just barely distinguishable on one of their faces.

"Naaaaah... they're still yelling at each other." Shack said, peering through a pair of binoculars at the group ahead of him.

"I'm starting to think that's all these people ever do..." Shade grumbled, pacing back and forth behind Shack.

Shack grinned, and put the binoculars down, looking up at his companion with his usual insane grin.

"The hooded people have all run away. That guy with the Kakashi hair just chased them off." He chuckled.

"Wait what?" Shade grabbed the binoculars away from Shack and peered through them as well.

In the distance, he could see Brainstorm laughing his head off while he sprinted around, holding the star crystal in front of him like a weapon, warding off the cult members, all of whom seemed horrified by it. Around him, Calvin, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates and Jack watched the situation unfold with complete confusion.

"How the heck did that idiot get a star crystal?!" Shade growled, throwing the binoculars away.

Shack shrugged, and Shade rubbed his chin in thought.

"All right, so this Brainstorm character might be a little more of a problem than I thought. When we followed him through the rift though, I wasn't expecting him to come to this forest. Why here?"

"Sometimes when you switch dimensions, you don't always end up in the place you left from." Shade explained. "Sometimes you're placed in spots that you've been before or around people that you've had extended amounts of interaction with, as your dimensional signature is linked to those places or people, and has a certain draw on you."

Shade paused for a long moment. "How did you know that?" He asked finally, turning an inquisitive look onto the not in the least bit insane man.

Shack thought for a moment. "You know, I really have no idea." He said finally. "Want to see my log book? I can finally put wherever we are into my 'Places Shack has Visited' diary!"

"No!" Shade growled firmly, picking the binoculars back up and peering through them again.

Shack shrugged, and happily scribbled in an old beaten up book he pulled out of seemingly nowhere.

"Who's the boy?" Shade mumbled, finally fixing on Calvin. "He used that CD player as a teleporter and brought more people in... How can he have that kind of technology?"

"Maybe his parents gave it to him." Shack said, popping up over Shade's shoulder.

"Unlikely. The boy seems very fluent in his commands and he's clutching that CD player like it's a weapon..." Shade put the binoculars down. "I'm guessing teleportation is not the only thing that machine can do."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means the boy is possibly affiliated with the mad scientist, so he's a threat to project as well." Shade put his hand on his chin and cracked his neck slightly. "We need to do something about it."

Shack's usual giant grin spread out, covering a good half of his face. "Waiting on your orders sir."

* * *

"HA HA!" Brainstorm announced, having finally chased off every hooded figure surrounding them. "I am once again victorious! No need to thank me of course!"

Calvin heaved a deep sigh.

"I kinda needed them..." He grumbled. "They have my babysitter!"

"Since when do you care?" Sherman asked.

"Since I determined that I don't want to explain to my parents why the new babysitter's being sacrificed to an evil demon overlord."

"Yeeeah, I don't see that going over well." Socrates nodded.

"Let's vamoose! After that evil cult thing!" Calvin announced, turning in the direction of the forest.

Andy sighed. "Is this gonna take longer than fifteen minutes?"

"Quite possibly!"

"Can I change out of my sleep wear?"

"Excellent idea." Calvin snapped his fingers. "MTM, teleport him into his usual attire."

"Or we could teleport your babysitter here and then teleport home." MTM said, flatly.

"No, we are doing this the fun way." Calvin insisted.

"Very well."

There was a small pop, and Andy's usual T-shirt, jacket and worn jeans appeared in place of his pajamas.

"Ah, that's better." Andy nodded, snatching Sherman up from the ground and placing him in his pocket. "Alright let's go."  
Calvin grinned, and sprinted off into the darkness. Andy and Sherman followed suit in front of Socrates who happily skipped along after. Hobbes watched all this for a brief moment, before sighing and realizing he had no other choice. He followed after as well.

Brainstorm and Jack watched.

Brainstorm whipped back around to Jack.

"Jack, do you realize what this means?!" He grinned.  
"We're stuck in the middle of a creepy forest in the middle of the night with no way to get home?" Jack said, dully.

"No! It means we can kill two birds with one stone here! I have already acquired my ultimate limitless power source and now we have found that the same power source can be used as a weapon against our enemies!"

Jack paused for a moment.

"Some of them... but sure, go on."

"All we need to do is capture Calvin's babysitter before hold her ransom!"  
"Why?" Jack asked.

Brainstorm paused.

"We'll figure that out when we get there!" He snapped finally. "All we need to do is destroy the babysitter and Calvin will be left in a state of weakened mental posture, and give us all the chances we need to destroy him and move on with my plans of world domination!"

Jack stared at Brainstorm for a long time.

"What?!" Brainstorm demanded.

"I dunno, it just fascinates me how obvious it is when you make something up on the spot." Jack shook his head.

"Never asked your opinion, Jack!" Brainstorm growled. "Now let's go!"

"Actually, Frank, I've been holding a call from your sister for the last half hour, and she's getting antsy." Jack said, as Brainstorm turned around. "Might want to look into that."

"DR BRAINSTORM! And I don't care how long you've been holding that call! I don't... I... Wait... You can hold calls?"

"Yeah..."

"... You can _receive_ calls?"

"Um... yeah..."

"Since when? I never installed that!"

"Er, your mom did." Jack said sheepishly.

Brainstorm stared at Jack for a long moment. "Uh... I... erm... I don't know! Tell her I'm not here!"

"She already knows you're here."

"Tell her I'm in the shower!"

"She can hear you."

"NO SHE CAN'T!"

"Okay, I can't say I have an argument for that." Jack shrugged.

" _ **YOUNG MAN, YOU PICK UP THIS CALL FROM YOUR SISTER THIS VERY INSTANT!**_ "

Brainstorm and Jack both jumped in horror at the sound of the Mother Brainstorm's bellowing roar that suddenly emitted from Jack's speakers. Around them, birds erupted from the trees and flew away in terror from the sound that had disrupted their sleep.

Brainstorm lay in a heap on the ground, groaning and rubbing his head.

"Jack... why did you put it on speakerphone?" he moaned.

"I didn't...," Jack also moaned, laying on the ground in a heap himself, holding his head in pain.

Brainstorm slowly collected himself and stood up.

"Hello Mother...," he grumbled.

" _ **WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR LAST FORTY FIVE MINUTES?!**_ "

"An alternate universe that uses magic to look for an infinite power source." Brainstorm said sheepishly.

" _ **DID I ASK FOR AN EXCUSE?!**_ "

Brainstorm paused. "Um... yeah, you kinda did." He said, finally.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Wrong choice of words." He sighed.

" _ **I WILL NOT SIT HERE AND BE BACK TALKED BY MY OWN SON!**_ " Mother Brainstorm roared. " _ **YOU'RE TAKING SHEILA FOR THE NIGHT!**_ "

Brainstorm's eyes widened. "No, Mother I can't! I'm in the middle of an evil plan!"

" _ **WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD INCLUDE HER IN YOUR EVIL PLANS FOR ONCE!**_ "

"She'll mess it up!" Brainstorm whined.

"I HEARD THAT!" Sheila was heard screaming in the background.

" _ **SHUT UP SHEILA!**_ "

Jack sighed. Sometimes he hated being part of this family.

" _ **I AM GOING TO THE SPA TONIGHT AND I WILL NOT LEAVE SHEILA HOME BY HERSELF AGAIN AFTER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME!**_ "

"Hire a babysitter!" Brainstorm groaned.

" _ **SHE SWITCHED THE LAST BABYSITTER'S BRAIN WITH THE BRAIN OF A HORSE!**_ "

"SHE TOLD ME I COULDN'T WATCH AMERICAN HORROR STORY!"

" _ **SHEILA I SWEAR TO GOD!**_ "

"Why do _I_ have to watch her?

" _ **BECAUSE I SAID SO!**_ "

There was a moment of silence.

"She's got you there, man." Jack shrugged.

Brainstorm growled. "Fine... I'll have Jack send you our coordinates..." He muttered through gritted teeth.

"ALREADY HAVE THEM! WHY THE HECK ARE YOU IN A FOREST?! DID YOU PACK YOUR TOOTHBRUSH?!"

"I was actually just about to leave..."

" _ **DID YOU PACK YOUR DARN TOOTHBRUSH?!**_ "

Jack shook his head and mouthed 'just say yes'.

"Yes... Yes... I packed my toothbrush..." Brainstorm sighed, slapping his forehead.

" _ **GOOD! SENDING SHEILA NOW! DON'T FIGHT WITH EACH OTHER!**_ "

And with that there was a tremendous _CLICK_ and Jack rubbed his head in pain.

"Gonna need to take the speakers out of my ears..." He grumbled.

Brainstorm crossed his arms and grumbled angrily to himself, as a flash of light filled the forest.

 _BRAZAP_

The woman that appeared in front of Brainstorm, albeit slightly shorter, definitely shared several of her brother's physical traits. Which is kind of a scary thought to be honest. Her electric blue hair shot straight into the hair ending in spikes exactly as Brainstorm's hair did and she wore the same white lab coat over a black shirt.

Beside her stood another robot, who was silently stretching her limbs, while ignoring the insanity that went on around her. Although she looked very similar to Jack with the silver body and segmented legs, her nose was slightly shorter and she had a more feminine build.

The robot smiled and waved, as she finally materialized in.

"Hey Frank. Hey Jack." She said cheerily.

"DOCTOR BRAINSTORM!" Brainstorm screamed.

"Hello Jacqueline," Jack said, boredly.

"DON'T YOU YELL AT MY ROBOT ASSISTANT!" Sheila screeched. "I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD IN A PETRI DISH!"

"IT'S GONNA BE HARD TO DO THAT FROM DEEP SPACE, SHEILA!"

"I'LL DRAG YOU OUT WITH ME!"

"NOT IF I DRAG YOU OUT FIRST!"

Sheila paused. "YEAH WELL...You're... STUPID!" she screamed finally.

" _YOU'RE_ STUPID!" Brainstorm shouted back.

"Sometimes I wonder how these two managed to live with each other before Frank moved out." Jacqueline commented.

"I've heard many war stories." Jack nodded.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE IN THIS STUPID FOREST ANYWAY?!" Sheila demanded.

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Brainstorm shrieked.

"TELL ME!"

"NEVER!"

"TELL ME OR I'LL TELL MOM YOU DIDN'T PACK YOUR TOOTHBRUSH!"

Brainstorm growled and glared at Sheila with a rage that doesn't emerge out of him very often. Jack and Jacqueline exchanged glances.

"I AM GOING TO DESTROY THE BABYSITTER OF MY ARCH NEMESIS!" He finally announced. "AND _YOU'RE_ GOING TO WAIT HERE UNTIL I DO!"

"YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"I'LL TELL MOM ABOUT THAT GUY YOU'RE SEEING!"

" _ **YOU WOULDN'T DARE!**_ "

Jack turned an astonished expression onto Jacqueline. "Sheila's _seeing_ someone?"

"Yeeeeah... He's not really all for it..." Jacqueline said, nodding.

"Ah, that makes more sense." Jack nodded. "That poor fool."

Brainstorm whipped around and faced the two robots.

"COME JACK! WE MUST DEPART WHILE I'M STILL WINNING THE ARGUMENT!"

"You're winning?" Jack asked.

"SHUT UP AND LET'S GO! WE HAVE TO GET TO CALVIN'S BABYSITTER BEFORE HE DOES!" And with that, Brainstorm rushed off, while Sheila continued screaming after him.

"DON'T YOU RUN FROM ME!" she roared. "I WILL FIND CALVIN'S BABYSITTER BEFORE _EITHER OF YOU!_ AND THEN _I_ WILL BE THE ULTIMATE DESTROYER OF MY ARCH NEMESIS' SUPERVISION!"

Jack and Jacqueline watched this unfold.

"I suppose I should go make sure he doesn't hurt himself." Jack sighed.

"Yeah. I'll wait here with Sheila." Jacqueline nodded. "Let me know if you need help!"

"Righto."

"Have fun!"

Jack turned and stared at Jacqueline's cheerful and happy expression.

"Sometimes I really don't understand you." He sighed.

Jacqueline shrugged.

And with that Jack walked off after his companion.

Sheila glared at him as he left. For a while, nothing was said, there was simply the chirping of the crickets and the sound of Sheila angrily muttering to herself.

"We're not staying here, are we?" Jacqueline sighed.

"YOU'RE DARN RIGHT WE'RE NOT!" Sheila screamed, throwing her fist to the sky. "COME, JACQUELINE! THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE!"

Jacqueline sighed, and reached into a compartment on her side, pulling out a couple of small dumbbells. "I could use the jog."

* * *

Calvin raced through the forest, holding the MTM in front of him like a flashlight. He jumped and crawled over logs and rocks, while behind him Socrates and Hobbes followed on all fours, jumping around the trees, logs and rocks a little more gracefully, while Andy was left slightly in the dust.

Calvin paused for a second, and panted slightly, holding the MTM in front of him, and scanning the area.

"Okay…," he panted. "Where are we?"

"Still on their trail," MTM said simply. "They're starting to converge on another opening, it appears. The people we're trying to save are already there."

"Right…," Calvin gasped. "What were their names again?"

"I don't remember," MTM said.

"Well come on, you're the super computer, here."

"Do you actually care what their names are?"

"Not really. I barely remember what they look like to be honest."

By this time Hobbes and Socrates had caught up and were looking around in all directions.

"Where we at? Are we ready to tussle?!" Socrates asked, eagerly.

"No... Just taking a breather," Calvin sighed. "Where's Andy?"

"Still back there." Hobbes said. "We... kinda outran him."

"Okay… We'll wait for Andy and then we're taking off again. Heaven knows what these terrible people are doing these… poor… innocent young teenagers."

"Rosalyn?" Socrates asked.

"New person," Hobbes panted.

"Wow, she was that bad?"

" _I_ don't think we gave her enough of a chance, personally."

"Hobbes, she was in charge of babysitting a six year old, and then dragged him out to a campground without the parent's knowledge or consent to see her make out with a boy who wears a sideways snapback," Calvin sighed.

"Fair point."

"Ah, the ol' sideways snapback." Socrates nodded. "I know the type."

"He also wore socks and sandals."

Socrates gasped. "That monster! Why are we saving them again?"

"Eh," Calvin shrugged. "It's not like it'll take us long."

"Whoa... hold up...," MTM suddenly cut in. "I'm getting a new reading."

Calvin turned a puzzled look onto the machine. "What?"

"I don't know how I didn't see them before... they must have had a cloaking device..."

"Who?" Hobbes asked, cautiously looking around in all directions.

"Two more people..." MTM said. "It's no one we know, but they're not the part of the cult, their mental signatures are different. They're... close..."

"How close?" Calvin growled.

"Twenty three feet to north."

Calvin looked to the right.

" _North_."

Hobbes and Socrates looked behind them.

MTM sighed. "To the left."

Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates turned, just in time to see a bright and blinding light speeding towards them.

"AAUGH!"

* * *

Andy trudged through the forest, dodging tree branches and crawling over logs, trying to catch up with his friends. "Darn it! How is Calvin this fast?" he grumbled, searching the darkness for some sign of them.

"Well I mean, he is chased by tigers all the time," Sherman said, tightly holding onto Andy's pocket.

"True…," Andy panted. "Okay... I need to stop for a moment."

The boy slowed and put his hand against a tree for support.

"Wow... for an evil cult wearing movement restricting cloaks, they can really move fast."

"In their defense, we also spent a fair amount of time arguing." Sherman said, looking around in all directions. "Sometimes I really wonder how we get anything done."

"We usually don't," Andy nodded.

Suddenly, a twig snapped somewhere in the distance. Andy and Sherman tensed up and froze, and Andy's breathing slowed.

"Where was that?" Andy whispered.

"Behind us…," Sherman said, shakily.

Andy slowly nodded and slowly turned his head.

In the darkness he couldn't make anything out aside from trees and bushes.

"Shall we continue?" Sherman said, quietly.

"Yes," Andy said, not taking his eyes off of the trail behind.

He took another step forward until he heard another snap behind him. He froze again.

"What if it's one of the evil crazy people?"

"Well, it's not going to help anyone by staying here!" Sherman insisted.

 _CRACK!_

Andy jumped and whipped around, as a deer leapt in front of him and bounded off into the darkness. The boy clutched his chest in horror as he watched it.

"Oooh... Oh boy..." He groaned. "I can't take jumpscares, man."

"Yeah…," Sherman agreed, also clutching his tiny chest. "Let's hurry up and catch up with everyone."

Andy nodded and turned towards the direction he had been going, only to be met with a blinding light that seemed to be cutting through the forest towards him.

 _ZZZZZZZZT_

* * *

Brainstorm, however, had been completely turned around in the forest. As he ran around in circles, chased sounds that ended up being squirrels and deer, and generally heading in the completely wrong direction, Jack followed quietly behind him, knowing full well where they needed to go, but deciding to see how long it took Brainstorm to figure it out.

After a while of running, Brainstorm paused and leaned against a tree, trying to catch his breath.

"JACK!" he half shouted, clutching his chest. "How... _pant..._ How much... _pant..._ further?"

Jack casually walked up to the mad scientist. "Ready to admit you're lost yet?" He asked simply.

"Dr Brainstorm does not get lost!" Brainstorm announced. "I just... It's too dark in here! I don't know how that Calvin can figure out where he's going!"

"He has a flashlight."

"This is prime example of why I'm in charge of this operation, Jack!"

"Operation?"

"Because if _you_ were in charge, _you'd_ just make smart remarks the whole time, and we'd never get anything done and the world would never get taken over!"

"That's kinda what happens anyway, but sure."

"Shut up! We must continue!"

"Oh, you won't be continuing with much more for very long."

Dr Brainstorm and Jack froze at the sound of the cool voice behind them.

Brainstorm whipped around to meet the face of a man wearing a black plague mask. "YOU AGAIN!" he growled. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY?!"

Shade didn't respond, he simply stared at Brainstorm silently, crossing his arms and lifting his head slightly. Behind him, the outline of Shack came into view as he sprinted up as well, waving.

"JACK! JAAAAACK!" he called, happily.

"Oh god…," Jack groaned.

Shack approached and happily moved towards Jack.

"Hey ol' buddy! How you doing?!" he grinned, shoving his face into Jack's.

"Annoyed... as usual," Jack said, taking a step back.

"That's pretty cool!" Shack grinned. "Have I ever showed you my taxidermy collection?! I stuff them myself."

"I'm sure you do," Jack said, looking the man up and down in annoyance.

"Yeah. Some people think I have an unhealthy obsession with stuffing things that are dead. They're always the ones that haven't tried it! But since you're my best friend and all, you understand... I'm sure people judge your taxidermy collection too!"

Dr Brainstorm and Jack exchanged glances.

"Dude... we've met _once_ …," Jack said, backing away and holding his hands up. "You're starting to cross over into slightly creepy status."

Shack laughed. "As long as I'm not crazy, because as everyone knows, I'm definitely not crazy!" His left eye began twitching, madly.

"Shack, enough," Shade said.

Shack looked up at Shade and grinned. "Oh yeah! Sorry boss!" he cackled, taking a step back.

Shade cleared his throat. "You know, I probably actually don't need to do anything, to be honest," he said. "Neither you nor your robot look capable of taking over a department store, much less the world."

"I resent that!" Brainstorm growled.

Jack shrugged. "Eh. Too much work."

"But to my knowledge, you're the only other people on this planet with access to dimension jumping technology, and you need to be taken care of," Shade growled, reaching into his pocket.

In a flash, Brainstorm whipped his servant ray out of his pocket and aimed it at Shade and Shack.

"I don't think so, Hawk Man!" He growled. "I may look incompetent, but faced with danger I am a force to be hold!"

There was a silence.

"Yeah, that didn't sound very threatening," Jack said.

"Shut it, Jack!"

Shade chuckled. "You act as though I'm going to kill you? No, no... I wouldn't waste the energy."

Brainstorm raised an eyebrow.

"Not when there's an alternate reality right next door full of things that will do it for me," Shade cackled, throwing his hand out from his cloak and tossing a small Frisbee like metal disk at the mad scientist.

"SERVANT RAY DO NOT...!"

Brainstorm was cut off mid-sentence as the disk stopped in midair and seemingly exploded in a blinding flash of purple and blue light, briefly illuminating the forest.

As the forest fell back into darkness, the disk collapsed in the dirt. Brainstorm and Jack had vanished, and Shade and Shack were left starting at the empty space in front of them.

Shade walked over and picked the disk up from the ground.

"Let's get out of here." He growled. "We don't want any of those freaks in the hoods finding us."

"Ha ha ha! Yeah, there's nothing I hate more than freaky weird people!" Shack cackled, skipping over to Shade and taking his arm.

Shade pushed a button on his watch.

 _BZZZZT_

There was an explosion of electricity, and the two villains vanished from sight. The forest fell into complete silence.

Well, aside from Sheila screaming angrily in the distance...


	4. Learning About Luna

The world was dark to Calvin for a long time, but the first thing he realized was that he was on cobblestones. He felt around for a few moments, ensuring that he was in a safe location and not about to go tumbling off the side of a cliff. Once assured, he opened his eyes. He immediately noticed that it was sunrise, with the sky tinged with a beautiful cascade of dark blue, orange, purple and yellow. Sitting up, he found that he was in a town. It looked like a Victorian-styled town.

Then he noticed everyone on the ground scattered around him. Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates, MTM, Dr Brainstorm and Jack were all sprawled out in semi-conscious lumps, slowly regaining consciousness and sitting up, similarly taking in their surroundings.

"Oh, wow…," Hobbes murmured.

"Fascinating," Sherman agreed.

Dr Brainstorm stretched a kink out of his neck and shook his head. "Oh great. We're _here_ again! That beaky-masked jerk!"

"Where is 'here', exactly?" Calvin asked.

"Parallel universe," Jack said. "The one we just came from. Weird, though. We were just here, but it was only just nighttime. Now it's early morning."

"So it's tomorrow? Are we in China?" Socrates asked.

"More than that," Jack replied, checking his built-in wristwatch. "I'd say a couple days. Three, at most."

"That long? Then time must travel faster in this universe," Dr Brainstorm mused.

"So how'd we get here?" Calvin asked.

"Most likely that idiot Shade – the fellow with the radiation mask. Seems he isn't prepared to let anything go…"

"Wait… who's Shade?" Hobbes asked.

"Some dimension-travelling nut who's apparently a little obsessed with his work."

"Yeah, when Frank here told him he planned to take over the Earth, Shade didn't take it too well. Also has a weird pal named Shack – wears a straw hat and loves taxidermy. Also seems to think we're besties, but I'm trying to ignore that bit," Jack put in.

"Taxidermy…?" Socrates asked. "Whatever happened to nerds collecting trading cards?"

"Weird," Calvin murmured, pulling out the MTM. "Come on, MTM – send us home. We'll deal with this Shade guy on our own turf."

MTM revved a couple of times, but something weird happened, and he only sparked a bit instead, causing the others to jump back. "That's odd," he said. "Whatever was used to bring us here has shorted out my own dimensional hopper."

"Oh _wonderful_ ," Andy grumbled.

"So what do we do now?" Hobbes asked. "There's got to be _some_ way to get back."

"The only real option is to repair me," MTM replied. "Just a manner of finding supplies."

Everyone took a moment to look around the Victorian-esque town, looking at the oil lamps, lack of automobiles and traffic lights, and absolutely no carbon monoxide in the atmosphere.

"That might be a problem," Sherman pointed out. "There doesn't appear to be anything techy around here at all. Not a single Wi-Fi tower…"

"Like living in the Dark Ages," Andy mused.

"More like the _Dork_ Ages," Socrates muttered, shaking his head. "How am I supposed to update my various social media statuses from _here_?!"

"So now what do we do?" Hobbes asked.

Andy looked over at Dr Brainstorm and Jack. "Well… and this is a crazy idea, I know… but we could work together to figure out a plan…"

Dr Brainstorm looked at him for a long moment, apparently not quite comprehending the boy's suggestion, but as soon as it started to occur to him, and he immediately backed away from him in indignation. "Oh, no you don't! We're not pulling _that_ again!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we've been teaming up _way_ too much lately! I mean, for crying out loud! We're supposed to be _enemies_! We're supposed to be constantly trying to kill each other! Imagine what the world will think if I'm constantly helping people instead of destroying them where they stand! I finally got some publicity going! I can't blow that now!"

"True," Socrates said with a nod. "Your online fan clubs have been expanding in recent months."

"Is that guy from Little Rock still sending messages asking for my original guitar?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Still doesn't seem to register you're not musicians."

"The point is – _No!_ We will _not_ work together! As of now, we don't know each other, we're not helping each other, and we're not going to even respond to texts! Come, Jack! We're getting out of here! We're blowing this pop stand and ditching these losers!"

And with as much drama as he could muster, Dr Brainstorm turned on his heel and marched like a solider into the town.

Everyone watched him leave, dumbfounded.

Jack cleared his throat. "Well… I guess we'll team up later then. See you, guys."

They waved goodbye, and the robot set off to make sure his master didn't go and get a nasty paper cut or a hangnail.

Once they were gone, Calvin spoke up. "Okay, I guess we might as well explore a little. Learn more about this town and what it's about."

"Propose we split up into groups and try to find out what we can from the locals," Sherman suggested.

"Good idea. Andy and Sherman – you guys go uptown. Socrates – you look around downtown. Hobbes and I will search around here. We'll meet back here in an hour."

Everyone checked their watches, then all saluted together before turning in different directions. Andy walked up the street, Socrates down the street and Calvin and Hobbes headed for a few buildings.

Finding a local shop was open and had a few people coming in and out of it, they decided to try going in. Upon entry, they found lots of regular humans all milling about looking at trinkets.

"Where do we start?" Hobbes asked.

Calvin shrugged. "Look for someone in charge, I suppose."

They walked further into the room, passing several gothic-themed knickknacks until they found the customer service desk. Hobbes rapped on the countertop a few times, hoping to get someone's attention.

An older man wearing a white shirt with a purple waistcoat and a pair of thick goggles on his forehead came walking out. "Well, hello, boys! What can I do for you?"

"Well, we have a couple of questions about this place," Calvin said.

"Oh, well, I inherited it from my family. I've been running it for many years…"

"No, no, no, I mean this universe. What do you know about it?"

"… What?"

"I need some answers, man. What's this place called? Why's it so important? Major exports? Language? Water supply? Let's have it!"

The shopkeeper stared at him for a long moment before putting a 'no sale' sign on the counter and returning to the back room.

"I don't think he's interested in helping us," Hobbes said inanely.

Calvin glared at the shut door. "Great! Thanks for ignoring us! What lousy customer service! I hope a breed of cockroaches gets let loose in your lousy store, you rotten tourist trap!"

He turned to storm away, only to find all the customers had stopped to stare at him in shock. Clearing his throat, Calvin shouldered on his dignity and walked out the door with Hobbes trailing loyally behind him.

"Maybe we'd better find another store," Hobbes muttered.

"Agreed."

* * *

Andy and Sherman walked further up the street into town, trying to find someone who would talk to them about the town, but no one would talk about it. Plenty were friendly and greeted them, but whenever Andy tried to ask about the town, they'd make up an excuse and run away. It was beginning to annoy them.

"There's gotta be _someone_ who's willing to talk about this place," Sherman grumbled. "Someone who knows a thing or two about this universe."

"Whatever it is, it must be bad," Andy remarked. "Every time I ask about it, people make an excuse and leave… unless that last guy really _did_ have to go and restring his toothbrush…"

Sherman shook his head disdainfully before scanning the few pedestrians there were on the street. There were a few people walking merrily along their way, chatting amiably, but his eyes locked onto a young woman sitting on a bench, reading a book. "Let's take our chances with her," he suggested.

Andy saw the woman and nodded in agreement. He crossed the street to the bench and cleared his throat, getting her attention. "Excuse us, miss. Is this seat taken?" he asked, indicating the empty spot next to her.

She smiled pleasantly. "No, of course, go right ahead."

Andy climbed up onto the bench and smiled appreciatively. "Er… I hope you don't mind me asking…," he said slowly, "but… we kind of need to know about this place we're in."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… this place. Everyone seems a little standoffish when we ask about this place. The town. The land. Whatever…"

Sherman cleared his throat. "Madam, we'd like to know what it is about this world that's so frightening that no one wants to talk about it."

The woman tilted her head, looking at them with confusion. "What do you mean? You mean about the island? How could anyone not know that?"

Andy blinked. "We're on an island?"

"… Are you serious?"

"Very serious," Sherman confirmed. "We need some answers madam – where are we and what is there to know about it?"

She considered this for a long moment before nodding in acceptance. "Well, if you're serious… We're on an island called Luna. It's shaped a bit like a crescent moon. The only way on and off the island are two land bridges connected to the north and south ends of it. The entire island is built up of one giant city which is split into two factions: the northern half, Lunanix, and the southern half: Lunanox."

"Interesting," Andy said, nodding along.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Sherman grumbled. "What else is there to know?"

"Well… depending on the cycle of the moon, parts of the city may start to fall into the ocean temporarily and flood a bit. When there's a New Moon, there's no flooding. Waxing crescent through gibbous, there's some minor flooding through the north of Lunanix, and the north section of the continent begins to sink into the ocean. Full Moon means flooding throughout the entire city and the entire continent begins sinking. Waning gibbous through waning crescent results in minor flooding through the south of Lunanox and the southern part of the continent begins to sink."

"Wow…," Andy said, a little disturbed by this information. "Hope everyone here has water wings."

"It's not so bad. Hardly anyone ever goes outside anyway, thanks to the curse."

"What curse?" Sherman asked.

The woman blinked. "You mean… you don't know about the curse?"

"… _What curse_?" the hamster repeated.

* * *

"How can you not know about the curse?" the young boy asked.

Socrates shrugged. "Not from around these parts. I'm from a magical land that has iPods and iPhones and Tablets and Kindles."

"What are those?"

"They're things used to replace paper. But do go on – what's the curse about?"

"Well, it's been around for as long as anyone can remember. Even my great-grandparents lived through it. Every night, once it begins getting dark, a bright red star will appear in the sky. Shortly after that, several different types of monsters will infest the city, including vampires, werewolves, ghosts, gargoyles, and zombies."

Socrates whistled. "Wow… a veritable monster mash… They just… show up?"

"Oh yeah. All the time. Every single night. Upon morning, the red star and monsters all vanish, and life proceeds as normal."

"So what does the city do about it?"

"Well, there's no curfew to speak of. They just basically say, 'go outside at your own risk'. There are a lot of thrill seekers and different professional agencies and groups of people that run the business of running nighttime errands, who go out every night to battle said monsters."

"Well, that's good to know… What's the deal with the red star? Is _it_ a monster?"

"No. Well… I don't think so. It _does_ rain down blood gems and star crystals."

Socrates raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really? What are they?"

The boy stared. "You _seriously_ don't know about blood gems and star crystals?"

"Come on, just tell me. What are they?"

* * *

"Well, occasionally, under the right circumstances, parts of the red star will rain down in the form of small gems and crystals, called blood gems and star crystals."

Calvin and Hobbes regarded the old man curiously. He was dressed all raggedy and sitting in a cardboard box, so it was clear he knew what he was talking about. "So… it literally rains pretty rocks?" Hobbes asked.

"Oh, I'll say it does! Only one kind will drop at a time. Blood gems provide power but require a 'charge' of blood in order to work. Those agencies that fight the monsters at night use these gems to power their weapons and sometimes even themselves."

Calvin's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Charge _themselves_?"

"Oh, yeah! Blood gems can be used to 'charge' people as well, giving them certain abilities."

"What about the star crystals?" Hobbes asked.

"They look similar to blood gems, but white and give off a faint glow. They're used to lessen the effects of the curse in certain areas. Monsters avoid the light they give off and while the curse tends to make people feel lethargic and weak during the night, the presence of star crystals completely eliminate that feeling. Some wealthy people possess giant ones that they use as light sources in their house. Street lamps are equipped with them to aid in protecting the town, should anyone _dare_ to venture outside."

"Do the agencies use those, too?" Calvin asked.

"You bet! They always have at least one of these crystals on them in order to better thrive during the dark hours. Both types of crystals are hard to find, and it's not uncommon to find people fighting over them, and really only the high class wealthy and lucky are able to acquire either of them."

"Wow…," Calvin murmured, mulling all of this over.

"Thanks for telling us all of that," Hobbes said gratefully.

"Not a problem, young lady!" the old man said pleasantly. "Now you run along now! I've got to return to my tea party!" And he crawled back inside the box, and they were surprised to hear the sound of a lock closing against the flaps.

Calvin and Hobbes stepped out of the alley they'd been in and back onto the street. They immediately saw one of the street lamps, and they saw that, instead of a lightbulb, there was a small diamond-like object inside of it.

"MTM?" Calvin asked. "Can you teleport me that crystal?"

"I'll give it a go," the CD player replied. "Hold out your hand."

Calvin did so, and a moment later, the diamond landed in his open hand. He and Hobbes examined it, seeing glowing slightly in the shadow.

"Hmmmm… Well, hopefully this'll be useful for protecting us in case we can't find shelter before nightfall."

Hobbes checked his watch. "We'd better head back and meet with the others."

They headed back to the place where they'd originally arrived.

* * *

Dr Brainstorm and Jack were still walking around the town. The mad scientist had his hands jammed defiantly in his pockets, and Jack was just taking pictures of the town, appreciative of the gothic architecture. They hadn't spoken a word since storming away. Jack was aware his creator was just trying to look tough and pretend to know what he was doing until the tension got to be too much for him, and he was perfectly willing to wait it out.

They continued through the town until they were in a somewhat rundown area. The pavement was cracked, the cobblestone road had grass growing on it and a few buildings were abandoned and falling apart.

Jack was still taking pictures to upload to his various social media pages later when he heard the sound of wood being pulled apart. He turned to see Dr Brainstorm was pulling long planks of wood off of a door to one of the old buildings.

"Okay… I'll bite. Frank, what the heck are you doing?"

"Dr Brainstorm, and I'm pulling open this door. What's it look like?"

"Why do we need to get through?"

"We need a shelter, Jack! You remember what happened last time we were here! If anymore monsters come popping out of the woodwork for no good reason, we need to protect ourselves!"

"True…"

"Good. Now give me a hand…"

Jack casually reached over and ripped the remaining wooden boards off the door in one swift move, almost like peeling a banana. He held them over his head, and it didn't seem to matter that Dr Brainstorm was dangling from it as well.

"What now?"

Glaring at him, Dr Brainstorm fell to his feet and dusted his hands. "Come on. If you're so clever, you can reattach it to the door."

"Check."

Dr Brainstorm stepped inside, and Jack followed, stick the nails back in the doorway, sealing them safely inside for the time being.

When he turned around, he saw his creator fiddling with his hypercube, which, as per usual, was clogging again, but he managed to pull out a few items from his lab.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Setting up a quickie-laboratory. We need to find a way back to our own universe."

"How do you plan to power the place without electricity?"

"I have a few ideas, starting with this thing here…," he said, pulling something out of his pocket.

Jack stared down at the star crystal in his creator's hand, glowing dimly in the darkness.

* * *

Night was coming down fast.

The gang had reunited, having spent the whole day gathering more information and trying to figure out what to do. They'd been wandering around for hours, and now their feet were tired, so they sat down on a bench to rest for a bit.

"So…," Andy said loftily, "… do we have a plan?"

"For what? We've kind of got multiple situations going on right now," Calvin pointed out, fiddling with the MTM.

"Well, how about we start with the situation where we're all out in the open when a bunch of monsters are possibly going to start popping up?"

"Yeah, I agree," said Hobbes. "We should devote some thought to that situation."

"Well, we should probably start by finding some shelter," Calvin said slowly.

"Where, exactly?" Socrates asked. "Everyone looks like they're locking up for the night."

Indeed, the people were hurrying off the streets and into the various buildings and houses that lined the town.

"Hmmmm… there's got to be somewhere we can go," Calvin said, looking in all directions for an open door.

He turned at the sound of hurried footsteps and saw a man in a suit running down the street. "I'm late! I'm late! I was held up at work, but I'll get home if I don't stop!"

"STOP!" Calvin shouted, trying to wave the man down.

But he just ran past them, prompting Calvin to get up and start chasing him.

"Hold on! We just need a place to stay for the night! Just hold on for a… moment…"

But the man was already pulling ahead of him and disappearing around a corner up another street.

"Rats…"

The others looked around. "I don't see anyone else," Hobbes said. "What do we do now?"

Calvin sighed. "I guess we're just going to have to hide," he declared. "We'll find a place to hunker down for the night – somewhere enclosed in an alley somewhere."

"Like where?"

"I don't know yet, but it'll beat the alternative – fighting the entire night."

"Ugh… I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, come on. Let's start looking around."

They all got off the bench and started searching around the town for somewhere to go that wasn't vulnerable. They looked in a few alleys, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly substantive.

After a few minutes, though, Calvin thought he heard something familiar. It sounded… human. "What's that?"

Everyone else listened carefully. Hobbes used his superior feline hearing and cupped his ear. "Sound like… crying…," he whispered. "Human… female… very young…"

Calvin grimaced. "Ick. Female. Ignore and move on. Come on."

Andy grabbed him by the collar to hold him still and looked at Hobbes. "Where's it coming from?"

"Down that alley."

"Andy, let me go!"

"Calvin, can you honestly tell me you can just ignore a child crying?"

"It's a lot easier when they're my own age…"

"Calvin, I know this goes against everything you stand for, being a complete misogynist and all, but we're not walking away. Got it?"

Calvin glared at the older boy before wrestling himself free and storming into the alley that Hobbes had indicated. The others followed him, if only to make sure he stayed civil when dealing with a crying girl.

They found her at the other end of the alley. She was small and petite, nice brown hair and wearing a slightly-rumpled dress. She was curled up on the ground, crying into her hands, hiding herself from the world.

It was a sorry sight, and even Calvin, who typically hated girls and loved to mock or throw things at them, couldn't help but wince a bit as his heartstrings got sufficiently tugged at. Throwing a glance at the others, who urged him on, he took a step towards the girl. He cleared his throat uncertainly.

"Ahem… Excuse me."

The girl slowly looked out from behind her eyes, tears trickling down her cheeks. "W-what do you want…?" she stuttered in a broken voice.

"Well… er… we heard you crying, and I… well, _they…_ wanted to know if you were… okay… or something."

The others rolled their eyes.

"Well, we can't say he isn't empathic," Sherman muttered.

The girl cleared her throat and tried to calm down, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. "It's… my daddy… He went out to find some star crystals for the night… and he never came home…" Her lip trembled as she felt a fresh wave of fear wash over her.

Calvin grimaced as he felt a pang of sympathy for her. She sounded so pathetic and lost he couldn't really help it. But he had to remain strong. He was Dictator-for-Life of GROSS. He couldn't just give in and feel sorry for her.

He turned away from her and shoved Andy in her direction. "Here. _You_ do it. This is making me _feel_."

Andy glared at him and approached the girl. "What were you doing here? It's nighttime. Aren't a whole bunch of monsters going to come out?"

"I… I was trying to find him. But I've come too far from home… and I'm never going to find my way back before my mommy locks the door… and she'll probably not let me back in. No one _ever_ gets back in after dark… And now I'm lost and scared and I just want my daddy to go home…," she whimpered.

Andy tried to think of the right words, but he was momentarily distracted by a tiny little sniffle on his shoulder and saw Sherman trying his absolute best not to cry. He heard similar sniffling from behind him and saw Hobbes and Socrates dabbing at their eyes with a pair of hankies they'd somehow acquired.

"I say we buy her a pony!" Socrates wailed.

Calvin shook his head disparagingly. "Oh, for crying out loud," he sighed. "Can't we just find her dumb dad and send them home?"

The girl looked at him in shock. "You'd… do that for me?" she gasped through her tears.

"Yeah… Whatever. Sure."

To everyone's surprise, the girl ran to Calvin and hugged the bejeezus out of him, causing him to stumble and bump into a trashcan.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried, burying her teary face in his neck.

Calvin's eyes were wide with horror, and his arms were sticking straight out. "Guys…," he hissed quietly. "Please… get… her… off… before the _cooties_ take root."

Hobbes rolled his eyes. "As amusing as that would be, we should probably get started on finding this guy. Do you know where he was headed?" he asked, pulling the girl away.

The girl nodded and pointed out the other end of the alley. "He went that way."

"Fine, come on. Let's get this over with," Calvin grumbled, leading them away.

They were just starting to head out the alley into the open when Sherman spoke up. "Wait… if she's this far from home and got lost just looking for him… how did she know her dad went in this particular direction?"

Everyone stopped walking as they registered what the hamster had said. They looked at each other, and then they looked back into the alley at the girl. Except the girl wasn't there anymore.

Calvin glared at the others. "See? This only further proves girls are evil slimy useless sub-humans."

Hobbes sighed disparagingly. "I think we just set his development back a few years."

Any further discussion was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a group of crazed lanky and pale humanoid creatures wearing what appeared be elk skulls. A whole gang of them came running up to them, roaring and screaming, and effectively freaking our heroes the heck out.

Calvin quickly pulled out the MTM and pressed a button the side. In the instant that the creatures were about to grab them, a great big force field exploded outwards and sent them all flying back. The creatures landed on their feet and stopped everything, taking a moment to properly observe them, skulking around and grunting like animals.

"What are they doing?" Calvin hissed.

"Looks like they're sizing us up, deciding whether or not we're worth devouring," Hobbes replied. "Not a good sign."

"Right, because _you're_ usually the one doing that," Sherman muttered.

"Well, I prefer it…"

One of the creatures came skulking up to them, sniffing at them. It growled with anger, annoyed it couldn't get to the group. It scratched a bit at the force field, frustrated at not being able to get through it. It then tried to _eat_ the force field with its sharp teeth, but it just bounced off, causing it to back away in alarm.

"We need to do something to chase them off," Andy murmured.

"Like what?" Socrates asked.

Hobbes thought for a moment. "Didn't they say star crystals were used to keep them away? That's why they were in the street lights – to discourage them or something."

Shrugging, Calvin pulled the star crystal and held it up to the creature. The creature responded by automatically recoiling, and the group behind it started backing away as well, but they didn't run off. They just held their distance, encircling the group.

Calvin looked at the crystal appreciatively. "Hmmmm… I like this thing."

Then, to their surprise, they heard a bunch of howls in the distance. They turned to look around and were horrified to see a large pack of werewolves storming in their direction, howling and growling and clearly very hungry.

"Good grief, it's like every single bad horror movie ever is here!" Socrates gulped.

The elk-headed creatures started yelling and screeching as they turned and proceeded to run away from the pack of werewolves, who came bearing down on them and proceeded to chase the group away. A few werewolves stopped to sniff at Calvin and the gang, and a few tried pouncing them, but they simply bounced off the force field. Calvin once again waved the crystal at them, and they subsequently decided to run after the other creatures.

The quintet were forced to stand there, listening to the hellish sounds of howling, screeching, growling and screaming as they disappeared into the night.

"… I'd like to go home now," Andy said at last.

MTM deactivated the force field. "I think we're safe for now," he said. "I'd better conserve my batteries."

"So now what? Do we just wander around for the rest of the night, trying to find our way out of this constant monster movie marathon?" Socrates demanded.

"I say we just try to find a place to hold up for the night," Calvin decided. "Preferably somewhere with a lock."

"And a great big 'do not disturb' sign," Hobbes agreed.

They walked up the back of the buildings, with Calvin lighting the way with the star crystal. They were just passing under one of the street lights when they heard a noise come from another alley, and they turned to see a dark figure huddled up, curled into a ball and hiding his face with his hands.

"Don't look at me…," the figure moaned. "Don't look at me… Don't look at me…"

"What in the world…?" Andy whispered.

"Don't look at me… Whatever you do, don't look at me…"

Calvin shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way. I'm done helping strangers tonight."

"Why can't we look at him, though?" Socrates asked.

"I don't care! We've already endangered ourselves once tonight. I refuse to take any more chances. Let's just not look at him and walk away, okay?"

The others nodded reluctantly and followed him away from the alley.

"Don't look at me…," the figure continued, hiding his face. "Don't look at me… _Don't look at me_..."

His wails were getting increasingly frantic and desperate. It was getting harder for the group to not turn and look just out of curiosity. They kept walking, forcing themselves not to look.

" _Don't look at me! Don't! Look! At me!_ "

They continued to walk away and not look at it, but the figure was clearly moving now, apparently crawling across the ground and heading for them in a very haphazard way. They tried to keep going, maybe gain a little momentum, but it was proving difficult given that they weren't certain what the creature was going to do.

"Don't look at me! _Don't look at me_!"

The creature thudded on the ground, apparently hitting the pavement rather hard, and Socrates instinctively looked to see if the creature was injured. Almost instantly, he uttered, "Oops."

The creature was humanoid, but its face was completely blank, save for a mouth that was full of very sharp-looking teeth.

It reared up into a crouch and yelled, "I SAID NOT TO LOOK AT ME!"

And it pounced.


	5. The Syndicate

Brainstorm peered out of the window beside the boarded up door of the abandoned house he and Jack had taken residence in. Outside, he spotted several shadows and silhouettes of unknown figures darting through the darkness. He whistled slightly, and pulled the drape shut.

"Jack! Is the machine ready?" He called out. The room he was in was surrounded by lab equipment and computers. All of which were currently powered down. Jack was sitting at a nearby desk, wrapping some wires around the star crystal.

"I suppose." He yawned.

"Excellent!" Brainstorm exclaimed, rushing over. "Alright, Jack, time to see if the fruits of our labor have paid off!"

"Our?"

"If this works, then I have found the unlimited power source I seek and will return to my universe to create the ultimate defense system!" There was a pause. "And then the ultimate attack system! Prepare yourself, Jack!"  
Jack raised his eyebrows and leaned back into his chair. Brainstorm reached over to the cubic device connected to the wires and flipped the switch.

 _click_

Brainstorm and Jack stared blankly at the results of the dramatic flip. Jack heaved a deep sigh while Brainstorm slapped his forehead in absolute defeat.

All the lab equipment had suddenly lit up like a flashlight, shining with the exact same light as the star crystal. Everything remained powered off.

"It didn't work." Jack observed.

"I'm aware of that, Jack." Brainstorm said, refusing to open his eyes.

"Room's fairly well lit, now."

"I don't care about the lighting, Jack." Brainstorm growled, still not moving.

"You have to face it eventually, Frank."  
"No I don't." Brainstorm insisted. "I can just pretend like it didn't happen."

"And where's that getting you?"

"Shut up, Jack."

There was a long moment of silence, as Jack stared thoughtfully at the glowing lab equipment.

"Why didn't you use solar power to power the solar powered droid?" He suddenly chimed in.

There was another long moment of silence that greeted this. Brainstorm slowly opened his eyes and an expression of realization spread across his face.

"DANG IT!" He screamed.

Jack sighed.

"Eric?"

Brainstorm and Jack froze. A voice had suddenly interrupted Brainstorm's cry. The mad scientist slowly turned. "Who was that?" He whispered.

"It didn't sound like a monster..." Jack said, confused. "It... sounded like it was outside."  
The two exchanged glances. Slowly, Jack stood up from the chair and started towards the window. He pulled the tattered drape back, and peered outside.

Everything outside was eerily still. There was no movement, no shadows and no visible monsters. However, standing in the middle of the stone street was a man holding a faintly glowing and flickering lantern. He was dressed very neatly in a black 1940's style suit with matching hat. He had no indications of being dangerous, but simply stood in the darkness, staring at the window. Upon seeing Jack peering out, he smiled kindly and waved.

Jack stared at him for a short moment, before backing away.

"Well? What did you see?" Brainstorm asked, eagerly.

"An 'I don't want to be here', that's what I saw." Jack said, walking back to the chair. "We should really try and find a way to get home, soon."

Brainstorm stared at Jack incredulously. It wasn't often that he saw the robot unnerved. Curiously, he walked over to the window and peered out himself. The man was still there. A little bit closer to the house, this time, still waving kindly at the window.

"Eric?" He asked, titling his head, slightly.

Brainstorm glared at him. "No Eric's here. Beat it." He growled.

The man stared at him, still retaining the same kindly grin. "Errrrriiiic," He called, holding his lantern in front of him, almost as if to get a better look at Brainstorm.

"See? That's about as 'nope' as it can get." Jack said, shaking his head.

Brainstorm looked back over to Jack. "Jack, think about that! That guy must have a star crystal or some such magic thing in his lantern! How else would he be outside right now?"

"By being an evil monster thing?" Jack said, his brow furrowing. "He's being pretty obvious about it, honestly."

"Jack, does that really look like a monster?" Brainstorm insisted.

"Frank, have you ever watched a horror movie?"

"DR BRAINSTORM! And I'll have you know I saw _Birdemic_ just the other day!"

Jack stared at Brainstorm blankly.

"I don't have time to watch movies, Jack!" Brainstorm announced. " _Some_ of us actually work during the day!"

"Alright, well let me give you a faint idea." Jack sighed. "When you stand out in the darkness and say the same thing over and over again while not responding to anything anyone says to you with a blank smile on your face, chances are you're evil and want to kill things."

"Oh come off it, Jack. The man is clearly taunting us!" Brainstorm explained. "Being able to walk around outside and not have to worry about anything attacking him! It's what these people do, Jack! We have to show them we fear nothing!"

" _Why?!_ " Jack demanded.

"Because fear is the enemy, Jack!" Brainstorm continued. "If you're going to be ruling the world, there must be no obstacle that you can't overcome! Now you coming outside with me or not?"

"So just so I'm clear, you're going to purposely put yourself in danger in order make a point?"

"Yes."

"Fine, I'll come with."

"That's the spirit! Now let's hurry before the punk leaves!"

Brainstorm rushed over to the door and began tearing down the boards. Jack sighed, heavily and stood up as well.

Brainstorm threw the door open and jabbed an accusing finger at the man, still standing motionless in the dark road smiling at them.

"YOU THERE! YOU WIPE THAT SMUG GRIN OFF YOUR FACE THIS VERY INSTANT! I AM DOCTOR BRAINSTORM AND YOU FEEL THE WRATH OF MY SERVANT RAY IF YOU DON'T GET LOST!"

The man didn't respond, but simply continued smiling at Brainstorm, titling his head slightly. This was not the reaction Brainstorm wanted.

"HEY! YOU DEAF?!" He bellowed. "DON'T MAKE ME SICK MY ROBOT SERVANT ON YOU! JACK, GET OUT HERE!"

Jack slowly walked outside, holding a Mountain Dew. Brainstorm stared at him.

"Where did you get that?" He demanded.

"Hypercube in my hand."

"You have a hypercube in your hand?"

"I've _had_ a hypercube in my hand." Jack said, taking a quick swig. "Want one?"

"NO! Unless you have a Coke?"

"Ew, who drinks Coke?"

"Lots of people! _You_ drink Coke!" Brainstorm shouted.

"Tastes change, my friend." Jack nodded. "I've become more of a Sunkist appreciator, myself."

"Fine, never mind... I DEMAND YOU DESTROY THAT MAN OVER THERE AT ONCE!" He jabbed a finger once again at the man. Jack stared at the well dressed figure for a short moment, before taking another drink from his soda.

"Excuse me sir, are you an evil creature of the night?" He called out. "If you are, please say nothing."

The man stared at Jack with his same stoic smile. Jack turned a satisfied expression onto Brainstorm.

"There ya go, he practically admitted it." He said. "Can we go inside now?"  
"NO! Jack, we have a mission to uphold! We can't let our petty fears of the dark get the better of us! Now march up to that man right now and knock that lantern right out of his hand!"  
"Scythe."

"Scythe, lantern.. whatever, just get over there and... Wait, what?"  
"It's not a lantern anymore, it's a scythe."

Brainstorm stared at Jack in confusion, before he looked slowly back up to the man in the street. His heart sank.

Fog was beginning to ominously roll in around the man, who was still smiling happily at the duo, except now his right hand was tightly gripping the handle of a long metal scythe that extended over the top of his head. His hand was trembling slightly from how tightly he was holding on to the handle.

Brainstorm and Jack stared at him for a long moment.

"...huh..." Brainstorm said, simply. "That's... new."

Jack sighed.

" _ **ERRRRIIIIIIICC!**_ " the man screamed violently, suddenly dashing madly at Brainstorm and Jack, swinging the scythe madly.

"AAAAAAAUGH!" Brainstorm stumbled backwards slightly, and he and Jack backed up into the house again and slammed the door.

"Jack," Brainstorm panted, leaning up against the door. "I never thought I would say this... but I regret not listening to you."

"Right... I'll compile a movie list for you." Jack sighed, sinking to the floor.

"Alright... What's a good horror movie?"

Jack stared blankly at the mad scientist. "Is that like a... trick question or something?"

 _SHIINK_

Brainstorm looked to his side to see a metal blade sticking out of the wood, inches from his head.

"YIKES!" He shouted, leaping away from the door.

Before Jack could compose himself and block the door, it was immediately kicked open, and the man holding the scythe grinned down at them.

"Eric!" He shouted ominously, raising his scythe over his head and bringing it down sharply over the top of Jack's head.

 _CLANK_

The robot sighed, now having a long blade resting on the top of his noggin. "I have a really bad feeling this is going to happen a lot." He grumbled.

The man's smile remained, as he switched his gaze to Brainstorm, and took a step towards him.  
"Eric..." He said slowly, once again raising the scythe up.

"You can't do that with me!" Brainstorm said, backing up, slightly. "I'm not made of metal! I'm squishy! Don't make me pull my servant ray out!"  
"Do you even have your servant ray on you?" Jack asked.

"JACK YOU ARE NOT HELPING!"

Brainstorm continued backing up, until he hit the wall. The man continued towards him, still grinning, but then suddenly stopped.

Brainstorm stared at him, looking him up and down. The man was not moving, but simply standing in the darkness, grinning ominously at the mad scientist. Brainstorm's eyes then fell on the light emanating from his lab equipment. The man was standing at the edge of this light.

He nodded in remembrance. "Oh yeah..." He muttered.

* * *

"Is it still out there?" Socrates whispered.

"SSSH!" Sherman hissed sharply. "Quit asking that! It's probably still out there!"

Calvin slowly peered over the side of the dumpster him and the rest of the gang had taken up hiding behind. Outside the alley, the faceless humanoid was still darting back and forth across the street, looking in all directions and muttering quietly as it searched for the people who had looked at it.

"Yes..." He murmured softly, returning to his hiding spot. "Yes, it's still there."

"Well this is fantastic." Andy muttered. "Are we gonna be stuck here all night until something else finds us?"

"Who wants to make bets on what the next one will be?"

"Shut up, Socrates," Calvin growled.

There was a moment of silence in which everyone simply listened to see if the creature was leaving or not.

"Did they have dumpsters in the Victorian age?" Hobbes suddenly piped in.

Everyone paused as they thought about this.

"Well I dunno," Calvin shrugged. "I pay less attention in history than I do math."

"Alternate universe, buddy," Sherman said. "Maybe there are some Victorian dump trucks around here, somewhere."

"Ooh, I wanna find the Gothic Burger King!"

"Shup up, Socrates," Calvin repeated, slapping his forehead.

"Wait hold on..." Andy cut in, holding his finger up. "Do you still hear it?"

Everyone paused. The sound of the creature growling and dashing around the street was suddenly gone, and the entire area was plunged into silence.

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged worried glances, as they both leaned out from the side to look.

The alley and adjacent street were empty, and the creature was nowhere in sight.

They both heaved deep sighs.

"Okay..." Calvin hissed. "We look clear. Let's keep looking for someplace to hold up. Socrates?"

"Hm?"

"Don't look at anything!"

Socrates acquired an offended expression and put his paw over his fuzzy chest. "Hey, it's not _my_ fault that thing had self-confidence issues."

"Spoiler alert, Socrates, when you're in a situation where there's a bunch of scary murderous monsters, and one of them asks you to not look at them... you don't look at them." Andy said, crossing his arms.

"Fine, fine..." Socrates sighed. "I dread the first monster that asks us to not smell them."

Suddenly, another sound began reaching the group's ears. Everyone fell silent and froze until they realized what it was. It was the sound of rushing water. They all turned to see that the street and alley were beginning to flood, as water rushed in from the other alleys and street ways, making its way up to the group and soaking their feet in ankle deep water. Socrates looked the most put out by this, as he put his ears back and alternated standing on one foot, shaking the water off of it in vain.

"Yeah, let's get out of here before this gets any higher." Andy decided.

Everyone nodded and ran out of the alley, splashing their way out into the street.

Calvin looked around in all directions, only to find with some relief that the street was barren.

"Alright," He said. "We need shelter. Some kind of building preferably."  
"Maybe one that's high up." Socrates added. "Ya know... So we don't drown."

"And sturdy..." Hobbes also added. "Something that monsters can't break into..."

"Any kind of building that looks important." Sherman contemplated. "Maybe someone can help us get back to our universe..."

"Something with a charging station, mayhaps?" MTM as well added.

"What about that?" Andy chimed in.

Everyone looked around to where the boy was pointing. Off in the distance, they saw a giant, black tower, that easily stood out from the other houses and buildings.

"Looks as good as anything." Calvin nodded. "Let's go!" And with that, the boy confidently sprinted off through the slowly rising water in the direction of the tower.

Andy and Sherman followed next, with Andy still struggling to keep up with the boy.

Hobbes and Socrates exchanged glances.

"I don't like this." Hobbes muttered.

Socrates confidently put a paw on the tiger's shoulder. "I'll bet we're gonna get to that tower with absolutely nothing happening while we do so, and we'll be able to just walk right in." He grinned.

Hobbes stared at Socrates for a long moment. "I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or if you actually believe that." He said, raising an eyebrow.

Socrates paused. "Sometimes I can't either." He admitted.

* * *

"BACK! I COMMAND YOU!" Brainstorm and Jack were pressed against the side building, having abandoned their camp for the night, as Brainstorm held his star crystal up in front of him, as a very small figure slowly circled them.

The figure was a walking teddy bear holing a large butcher knife which was larger than the bear itself. Its marble eyes were glowing green, and the occasional ominous sound of a child laughing was heard from it as it slowly stalked around the perimeter of the crystal's light.

"This is both terrifying and humiliating." Jack said, as bear twirled the knife around in its paws.

"I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE SCARED! IT CAN'T HURT YOU!" Brainstorm shouted.

"Doesn't mean it still doesn't creep me the heck out."

"GO KICK IT OR SOMETHING!"

"Frank, you of all people should know kicking things doesn't fix your problems."

Brainstorm growled, and turned back to the teddy bear.

"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN GETTING OUT OF THIS?!" He screamed.

The bear shrugged, and continued walking around the light.

Brainstorm growled and grumbled to himself, now becoming more angry than frightened. Suddenly, the sound of an inhumane screech reached his and Jack's ears. They both froze.

"What... what was that?" Jack started, quietly.

"Something that was hopefully very... very... far away..." Brainstorm said, also very quietly.

They looked down at the teddy bear. It had stopped paying attention to them, and was currently looking around in all directions, scanning the walls and rooftops.

"So Mr Bear..." Jack started. The bear looked up at him. "Was that far away?"

It shook its head.

"Great..."

Suddenly, a pale and lanky humanoid creature leapt from the darkness and clung to the wall, inches from Braintorm's head. On its head was a paper white elk skull.

"EEEP!" Brainstorm shouted, stumbling backwards.

The creature's head whipped up at Brainstorm and it screeched at him again, showing a row of needle thin teeth underneath its adorning skull.

The teddy bear threw its paws up and ran away at the sight, disappearing into the darkness. Replacing it were several more elk skull creatures, all of whom were hissing and screeching, quickly darting around the ground on all fours like spiders.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE?!" Brainstorm screamed, still holding his trembling arm outstretched with the star crystal in hand.

"Very mean looking..." Jack said, trying to stay as much in the light as he could.

The creatures hissed and screeched, jumping onto the walls and ground, while stalking just outside of the light of the star crystal, swiping at each other occasionally. The first one, which was still clinging to the wall, occasionally tried to move into the light to make a grab at the mad scientist, only to rear back in apparent pain.

"I WANT THE TEDDY BEAR BACK!" Brainstorm screamed. "THIS IS NOT COOL!"

The creatures shrilly screeched once again, causing Brainstorm to hold his ears in pain, in the process, he dropped the star crystal in front of him. The monsters danced around the light, still screaming, and began closing in on the two.

Jack looked down at the star crystal. In an instant, he grabbed it off the ground, and shoved it into his mouth.

Brainstorm stared at him in absolute shock. "Wh-why would you do that?" He asked, pitifully.

Jack held a finger up to silence the mad scientist.

The monsters screamed once again and one of them made a dive for Brainstorm, going for the throat.

 _Click_

In an instant, all the monsters reared back in shock and pain as Jack suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, acting almost like a beacon. The light blinded Brainstorm for a moment, and the creatures screamed madly at the robot before disappearing into the darkness.

Brainstorm sighed and leaned against the wall in exhaustion.

"Jack... that was... That was _amazing!_ What did you do?" He gasped.

"I had the nano bots insert the crystal into my power supply." Jack said, simply as the light began to die down. "It worked for your lab equipment, I figured it might have worked for me."

"Jack, you're a genius!" Brainstorm shouted. "When we get home I am going to redact half of all the nasty reports I've made on you!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Good to know."

"Now then, back to business. We need a new base of operation! Have you found another abandoned building yet?"

"In between the killer teddy bears and packs of Nick Nolte, I haven't had the chance."

"That is no excuse!"

"I figured you'd say that."

"Remind me to give you a lecture on that when I'm not terrified out of my mind!"

"I sure will."

"Good! Now what's that clinking noise?"

Jack paused. It was then that he noticed the faint sound. A very quiet yet distinct clinking, that was constant enough to not be considered random. He immediately noticed a familiarity to it, but couldn't place it off the top of his head.

"Uuuh... Maybe we should just keep moving."

Brainstorm nodded and looked around for a direction to set off in. He spotted the tower, somewhat in the distance.

"AH HA!" He shouted, pointing at it.

Jack studied it. "Looks occupied." He commented.

"That's why we use our sheer intimidation and prowess so they allow us in!" Brainstorm sneered. He waited for Jack to reply, but he didn't do so. "What, no input on that?"

"Nah, I think that pretty much speaks for itself." Jack shrugged. "Why? Is our relationship becoming predictable?"

Brainstorm rolled his eyes. "If nothing else, it's better than doing nothing. Let's go."

Jack shrugged and followed the mad scientist. He walked for about three seconds, before he stopped.

"Hold on..." He said, looking around.

Brainstorm paused. "Jack, we don't have time for this! Stuff is kinda trying to kill us!"

"I know, but that clinking is getting louder..."

"All the more reason for us to..."

Suddenly, a dark figure leapt from a nearby bush and flipped over the top of the metal fence between it and the road. Brainstorm stumbled back in horror as the hooded figure pulled two familiar looking chainsaw swords from its cloak and brought them down hard onto Jack's shoulders as he landed.

 _CLANK!_

Jack sighed deeply.

The figure did a front flip over Jack's head and once again, and attempted to slash at the robot a second time, this time going for his torso.

 _CLANK!_

"HEY! THAT'S MY ROBOT ASSISTANT YOU'RE TRYING TO CHOP UP!"

The figure whipped around and faced Brainstorm, holding the swords in front of him. He pushed buttons placed on each one, and the blades began spinning, producing the familiar clinking sound.

Brainstorm stared at the horrifying sight. "But... That is no reason to come after me instead!" He added, taking a step back. He tried to look the figure in the eyes to look more intimidating, but the hood over the figure's head completely shadowed his facial features.

The figure took a step forward.

Brainstorm whirled around to run, only to find himself standing in front of a second figure. A very large second figure.

Brainstorm slowly looked up to the top of the seven foot tall man that was looking down at him in a tattered black robe wrapped in chains. His face was hidden behind a white skull mask lined with teeth clearly made from star crystals. This was not the first thing Brainstorm noticed, however, as the giant war hammer with a scythe blade on the back end held in the giant's hands was much more prominent.

"How the _heck_ did that sneak up on us?" Jack asked, blandly.

"RUUN!" Brainstorm screamed, whirling around and frantically sprinting in the other direction. Jack threw one more glance at the frightening duo, before he followed suit.

"REMEMBER JACK!" Brainstorm was heard screaming throughout the town. "WE'RE NOT RETREATING! WE'RE ADVANCING TO FUTURE VICTORIES!"

The giant and assassin watched the two running away.

"That wasn't a vampire." The giant said in a slow and deep voice, slowly turning his head.

"I really thought it was." The assassin sighed.

"It was made of metal."

"It looked like it had sharp teeth."

"You scared them away."

The assassin turned to the giant, and although his face was hidden, an expression of offense was clearly on it. "Oh, because _you're_ such a big teddy bear aren't you?" He scoffed. "Chains and skull masks are what _I_ want to see on a guy coming at me with a giant hammer."

"I just picked the outfit that looked cool."

"Never mind... So should be follow them?"

"They're probably going to get killed if we don't."

"Right? Did you see that guy's hair? It's like a big red beacon of 'Come eat me please'."

The giant sighed, and placed his war hammer on a holster on his back before jogging off after the two, shaking the ground with each step. The assassin looked around for any nearby monsters before doing the same with the chainsaw swords and following suit.

* * *

In the meantime, Calvin, Hobbes, Socrates, Andy and Sherman all continued their trek towards the mysterious tower. Socrates was silently entertaining himself with a yo-yo, while everyone else remained on high alert checking corners and sneaking from lamppost to lamppost. While the group would occasionally spot shadows and various monsters around, they would often be far enough away to the point that they wouldn't cause too much concern. Calvin was bravely in the front, holding the MTM in front of him, ready for just about anything to pop out at him.

"So what exactly are we going to do when we get to this tower?" Andy asked.

"Knock, hopefully." Socrates said, not looking up.

"I don't know yet," Calvin said, ignoring the tiger. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"How many hours until morning?" Hobbes whimpered.

Socrates checked his watch. "Eeeeeeh, nine." He said, turning back to his yo-yo.

Sherman stared at Socrates. "How do you even know that time is right? We're in an alternate universe."

"Oh, I know. I made sure to check with the townspeople before sundown." Socrates grinned. "Tomorrow is daylight savings time."

"Seems kind of dangerous in a universe like this." Hobbes commented. "Do the monsters observe daylight savings time?"

"I imagine there's some code they abide to. I propose we find their time clock and destroy it to rescue this city once and for all!"

"Socrates, shut up." Calvin groaned.

Socrates shrugged. " _I_ think it would work."

"No, seriously, shut up!" Calvin snapped. "Who else hears that?"

Everyone paused. In the darkened streets, other than the sounds of a few crickets chirping, was the very distinctive sound of a low growl coming from a nearby alley.

Their collective hearts sank.

"Well..." Socrates said, quietly. "I'm gonna be the optimist and say it's something that's growling... at something that's not us..."

"MTM?" Calvin whispered. "How much is it not growling at us?"

"Oh, it's very much growling at us." MTM replied. "Sensors are kinda dim at the moment but it's very large... and fuzzy..."

An outline vaguely appeared in the darkness of the alley, and a nearly six foot tall werewolf stepped into the pale light of the moon, glaring down at the petrified group with its glowing yellow eyes. It threw its head back for its signature howl, and in the distance several more howls accompanied it.

"How those force fields looking?" Calvin asked.

"Not so great." MTM replied.

"Plan B then?"

"Plan B is good."

"I am as well a fan of plan B." Hobbes nodded.

The werewolf took a step towards them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Everyone screamed in absolute panic and started sprinting away. The werewolf roared and made a dive for them, reaching out for Andy and Socrates, the two in the very back of the group.

"Teleportation correction action" MTM said simply as he began whirring slightly.

In an instant, Andy, Sherman and Socrates were teleported out of the way, the werewolf face planted into the stone road. The three reappeared a few feet away, behind the werewolf.

While the monster attempted to regain itself, Calvin paused slightly to turn around. "GUYS! GET OUT OF HERE! WE'LL FIND YOU LATER!" He shouted.

"I agree! Let's run now please!" Sherman yelped, diving into Andy's pocket as the werewolf stood back up.

"Roger that," Andy saluted Calvin and he and Socrates sprinted off into the darkness.

The werewolf glared after Andy and Socrates before turning it's evil gaze onto Calvin and Hobbes, growling lowly.

Calvin and Hobbes began gripping each other tightly and shaking in terror as the wolf slowly took a step towards them.

"MTM..." Calvin said, taking a step back.

"Hm?"

"Remember that emergency power reserve you have that automatically puts you at max power?"

"I do."

"This is an emergency."

"Could probably count as one."

"I'm authorizing you to use that charge, so we don't die." Calvin said.

"Not dying sounds great." Hobbes nodded.

"Righto." MTM said. There was slight spark of electricity from the CD player. "Done. Full power. Bring on that combat, yo."

The werewolf roared and began sprinting at the duo. Hobbes hid behind Calvin as he held the MTM out in front of him, which began sparking slightly from the tip.

"INITATE ELECTRICAL OVERCHA-"

 _ **BANG!**_

Calvin's order was suddenly cut off by a deafening gunshot that rang out through the city. The werewolf let out a mighty roar before it very suddenly collapsed on the ground and lay motionless on the stone blocks in front of Calvin and Hobbes.

The two remained absolutely motionless, with Calvin still holding the weaponized CD player in front of him as they stared at the werewolf in shock.

"I... didn't know you could do that, MTM." Calvin said, simply.

"Neither did I." MTM said. "Frankly, I think that could have helped us out a lot in the past."

"This is why action fights don't last long in America." Hobbes sighed.

"But yes, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the scary man with the gun is the one that shot the wolf. I sadly didn't participate." MTM added.

"Scary... what scary man with the gun?" Calvin groaned, his heart sinking.  
"This one." Came a gravelly voice from behind the two.

Calvin and Hobbes froze before slowly turning their heads to peer behind them.

A man with a long brown trench coat and maroon shirt stood behind them. His long and messy dark brown hair hung over his face which was concealed behind a black mask with a teal colored monocular as one of the eyepieces and a very obvious star crystal as the other. His black pants were ripped and tattered and he wore biker gloves on his hands, both of which had two silver pistols in them. He threw his hands to his sides and the pistols dissolved into dust.

"That is so _awesome!_ " Calvin grinned.

"That is very not awesome..." Hobbes whimpered.

"Who are you?" The gunslinger asked, kneeling down and examining the six year old.

"Someone who _really_ wants to know how you did that!" Calvin grinned, his eyes sparkling with amazement.

"You don't... you don't need to show us any more scary stuff..." Hobbes groaned.

"Yei?" The gunslinger sneered. "Better to show it in battle. You wanna fight?"

"You're darn right I do!" Calvin shouted, jumping up and down slightly.

"N...No... No we don't!" Hobbes stuttered, looking at Calvin in shock.

"Quiet, Hobbes! Yes we do!"

"Uuuuugh..." Hobbes groaned, covering his face.

The man stared at Calvin incredulously. "You... being serious? You actually want to fight?"

"Will you do the cool gun thing again?"  
"Yei."  
"Then give me your worst!" Calvin grinned holding the MTM up.

The gunslinger shrugged. "A'ight"

"We just got _out_ of danger..." Hobbes moaned.

Before Calvin could reply, the gunslinger seemingly pulled another pistol out of thin air and shot it off in Calvin's direction.

 _ **BANG!**_ _PING!_

In an instant, the bullet ricocheted off the invisible force field surrounding Calvin, as purple ripples flew out from the impact.

The gunslinger whistled, as the gun faded into nothing. "Ooh, I got to get me one of those."

"Electrical overcharge activated." MTM said.

A bolt of lightning erupted from the MTM and shot towards the gunslinger. With reflexes so quick, it was if he were expecting it, he materialized another gun out of nothing and tossed it aside, arcing the electricity to strike it instead, causing the gunpowder inside to explode, violently.

Calvin clicked his tongue.

"Using metal as a conductive source to deter an electrical attack." He commented. "No one's ever done that, before."

The gunslinger paused. "How clever were these people that you've used that attack on?" He asked.

A very brief flashback entered Calvin's mind of Earl's crew of misfit aliens, who always, without fail, attempted to outrun the electricity being shot at them. They also tended to wear a great deal of metal equipment.

"I'd prefer to not speak of it." He sighed.

In an instant, the gunslinger leapt through the air, and did a front flip over Calvin's head. He landed behind him and pulled a slightly larger gun out of nowhere and fired more bullets at the duo, before it vanished as well.

"YIPES" Hobbes yelped, covering his face as these bullets as well bounced off the force field with no effect.

Calvin whipped around and pushed a button on the MTM, firing a red laser out of the tip, after the man.

The gunslinger back flipped out of the way, as the laser struck the ground with no effect, and he shot the force field once again.

"No fun, when you're using cheats!" He shouted. "Can't fight without a barrier?"

"Excellent point. MTM, disable force field!" Calvin ordered.

MTM sighed while Hobbes groaned and covered his face again.

"If you think it's best". The machine said.

"Can I just go hide?" Hobbes moaned.

"Go for it. This won't take long". Calvin chuckled.

There was a powering down sound, as the force field flickered and disappeared, leaving the two completely open. Hobbes immediately took the opportunity to dash away and hide behind a horse carriage.

The gunslinger straightened himself and began striding towards Calvin, grinning and twirling a couple of pistols between his fingers in each hand.

"Alright MTM, remember that project we've been working on?" Calvin said.

"The one that's not completely working yet? Sure." MTM replied.

"Yeah that one. Initiate that program."

"Mmkay."

The gunslinger fired at Calvin once again, and in that instant, Calvin disappeared from the spot he was standing at, and reappeared a few feet away, and the bullet hit the stone, shooting up some sparks.

"Mental teleporation link initiated." MTM said. "My teleporter is now being controlled through your brainwaves. Try not to materialize us into a solid object."

"Don't worry, I _probably_ got this." Calvin grinned. "Can you set the teleporter to auto activate with each gun shot?"

"Kind of gets rid of the whole 'mental link' concept, but sure." MTM yawned.

The gunslinger fired again at Calvin, this time with an automatic rifle, as the boy instantly teleported away, and into the air above the man. He aimed the CD player at him and fired the laser once again.

The gunslinger nearly dodged the blast, rolling into a bush, and firing larger automatic rifle at the boy, before it as well vanished after the first couple shots.

Calvin teleported back to the ground and aimed the MTM at the bush.

"Ice ray initiated." MTM said boredly.

A bright blue beam shot out of the MTM and struck the bush, to which the gunslinger nearly dodged out of the way of as the leaves and branches of the bush instantly froze solid, and began breaking apart.

The gunslinger did another front flip through the air and landed in front of Calvin, this time attempting to jab at the boy with something in his coat sleeve.

"Whoa!" Calvin shouted, teleporting backwards a few feet before realizing that the gunslinger had two dark red hidden blades in his each of his sleeves, that appeared to made from some kind of gem.

The two danced for a moment with the gunslinger repeating attempting to jab his blades at Calvin and Calvin immediately dodging each attack. Both of them occasionally shooting at each other, but to no avail.

"Name's Jackal, by the way!" The gunslinger grinned, trying to stab at Calvin once again.

"Calvin the bold!" Calvin grinned, once again teleporting out of the way, and firing a laser at the man.

Jackal dodged the laser and shot at Calvin once again. "What brings you to the night world, Calvin the bold?"

"Crazy people in bird masks who put me here!" Calvin grinned, dodging the shot.

"Not gonna lie, that's the first time I've heard that one." Jackal grinned, flipping over the top of Calvin and attempting to hit him once again.

"I imagine. Quick question!" Calvin shouted, simply moving out of the way this time, as he fired the MTM back at him.

"Shoot." Jackal said, dodge rolling out of the way.

"First of all, I really hope that pun wasn't intended, cuz that was just painful."

"It wasn't. I'm pretty mad at myself right now." Jackal admitted, firing another gun at Calvin.

"Fair enough." Calvin said, teleporting away again. "So are you having as much fun as I am right now?!"

"Ooh, so much." Jackal laughed. "If we don't kill each other, we should do it again sometime."

"Agreed!" Calvin shouted, giving a thumbs up, before narrowly dodging yet another magical bullet.

* * *

Andy and Socrates, meanwhile, were hiding silently behind a stone fountain, occasionally peeking out and looking for the werewolf.

"Are we clear?" Socrates whispered.

"Seem to be..." Andy replied, looking around. "Those gunshots kinda unnerved me, though. I wasn't expecting firearms in this universe."

"Yeah, this universe already has enough dangerous stuff in it... It doesn't need guns," Sherman remarked, peeking out of Andy's pocket. "We need to find Calvin and Hobbes and figure this out."

"Whatchya doing?" Andy, Sherman and Socrates all jumped at the unexpected voice that came from behind them. Socrates nearly fainted as Andy turned and faced a man with a black trench coat with a collar up to his chin. A partial balaclava covered his mouth and nose, and he wore a top hat, with dress pants and shoes. Under his coat was a buttoned up vest with the top button shining with the light of a star crystal. His eyes were sharp and emotionless as he stared down at Andy and Socrates, twirling a scalpel with a dark red blade between his fingers.

Andy opened his mouth to speak, but only squeaked slightly. The man raised an eyebrow.

"A bit late for a boy your age to be out here." He said coldly. "What's the creature with you?"

Socrates looked back and forth, before he realized the man was talking about him.

"Oh me?" He said, pointing at himself. "I am the ferocious beast of the jungle... Or something like that."

"You can talk." The man commented. "Well okay."

Andy took a deep breath in and tried to compose himself. "Who... Who are you?"

"Names are so informal," The man said. "You can call me 'Doctor.' Is that a... hamster?"

Sherman glared distrustingly at the doctor. "Observant." He growled.

The Doctor chuckled. "It can talk too. Well you lot are just full of intrigue. Where's your family, little boy?"

"Um..." Andy started. "Pretty darn far away... That's, uh... nice scalpel there."

Doctor looked down at his hand, before realizing he was holding the scalpel almost like a weapon.

"Ah yes. It's helpful out here. I see you don't have anything like that."

"Yeah, we kinda got separated from our only form of protection..." Andy muttered. "We kinda don't have any place to go tonight..."  
"Hm... Pity. Well, I must be off." The Doctor turned and started away.

"Wait, hold on!" Andy called after him. Doctor stopped walking, but didn't turn his head. "We were looking for a little girl's father? Or something like that... I think it was a little girl..."

"Did you see any creatures with skulls on their heads?" Doctor asked.

"Ye...Yeah?" Andy began.

"The little girl didn't exist." The Doctor said simply. "You just encountered a wendigo. They can mimic humans and they use that to try and entrap you."

Andy and Socrates exchanged glances.

"Well that's mean." Socrates commented.

The Doctor started walking away again.

"Wait..." Andy started again, before Sherman hushed him.

"Andy... I think you should let this guy go... He gives me the creeps..." The hamster whispered.

"Shermie, he's the first person we've met tonight who hasn't tried to kill us..." Andy said.

"...Yet..." Sherman growled, glaring after the man.

"Hold on!" Andy called again.

The doctor sighed and stopped again.

"What is it?" He said, getting annoyed at this point. "I'm on a job right now."

"You're a doctor? So you're kind of into the whole science thing... a little bit... right?"

Sherman slapped his forehead. "Not the approach I would have used." He muttered.

The Doctor paused, as if thinking about how to answer that. "Medical... science, but sure. Why?"

"What do you know about alternate universes?" Andy asked.

"I know the theory."

"Well, we're from an alternate universe." Socrates grinned, stepping forward. "We come from a world of reality television and social networking! And we refer to _our_ monsters as politicians and lawyers!"

The Doctor turned and gave the three a confused yet intrigued looked.

"We _might_ be considered important." Sherman reluctantly grumbled, rubbing his temple.

"Is that so?" Doctor said, turning back around. "Well if that's the case, I can't just let you be running around out here, now can I?"

Andy and Socrates exchanged worried glances.

"Erm... I guess not..." Andy started.

The Doctor held his hand out in front of Andy. He stared at it for a moment, noticing the large amount of dried blood that was over the glove. He gulped, and took it with his own hand, shaking it.

"Allow me to introduce you to my team." Doctor said, motioning behind him. "They should be waiting for me."


	6. Joining Forces

Jacqueline's eyes clicked and whirred as she focused them like a camera lens. She observed the strange proceedings from the safety of her shrubbery with Sheila. She could just about make out the sight of their target through the long line of hooded cultists.

Their target was Jessica, and her boyfriend as well. They were tied down to the stone slab in the middle of the circle, clearly terrified out of their tiny little minds. The cult members stood in a circle around them, chanting inanely and calling out to whoever they were trying to reach to do whatever the heck it was they wanted them to do.

"What's the progress?" Sheila asked.

"None," Jacqueline replied. "Looks like they're still chanting their heads off."

"And the teenagers?"

"Petrified. In fact, I'd say in about six seconds, they're going to start declaring their love for each other."

Sheila peered through the leaves to see. "Seriously?"

"Yep. Aaaaaaand… here we go… Yep, they're at it. He's saying 'I never knew what it was to be happy until you entered my life,' and she's saying, 'You brought so much light into my life with your dazzling smile and adorable dimples.'"

Sheila gagged. "Oh, let's just kill them now! Good _gumdrops_ , that's annoying!"

Jacqueline shook her head. "You'd never do it from here."

"Well, we've got to do it before Frank gets back and does it himself!"

"I don't think he was going to – "

"Oh, you _know_ he was! He'd do it just to spite me! Now come on! We've got work to do!"

"Yes, we'd better do something. Who knows what the cult's trying to do?"

"Yeah, that, too. Can you tell what they're chanting?"

Jacqueline strained her audio receivers trying to listen. "Something about… I'm not sure… but the phrase 'rise from the dead' is coming up a lot, as are the words 'sacrifice' and 'virgins'."

"Bleh. Just the standard spiel. Fine. Let's go tackle this unoriginal losers."

"Quietly?"

"Huh?"

Sheila didn't quite hear that suggestion in time and ended up stepping on a twig. Almost instantly, the chanting ceased. They peered through the shrubs and saw every hooded head had turned to look in their direction. A couple of the cultists started coming in their direction.

"Ooh, we made them skip a beat. They're gonna be _ticked_ ," Jacqueline whispered.

Sheila thought quickly – never one of her strongest suits. "I've got an idea!"

"Uh-oh."

Ignoring her robot assistant, Sheila leapt from the bushes and took a theatrical pose, hoping she looked even the least bit threatening. "BEHOLD!" she bellowed. "I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED! BY _YOU_! YOU… you… CULT! People… RAWR!"

Jacqueline was doing her best not to laugh.

The cult member stared at her for a long moment.

Taking the silence as acceptance, Sheila steamrollered on. "YOU HAVE AWAKENED ME! AND I SHALL NOW TAKE THE… 'SACRFICES' OVER THERE! FOR ME! MYSELF! YOURS TRULY!"

The cultists continued to stare blankly at her, and with their faces under their hoods, she couldn't tell what they were thinking.

At least, she couldn't until they started coming straight for her, and the one who had been about to kill the two lovesick teens with a large jagged knife was taking particular interest in her.

Sheila gulped. "I don't think they're buying it," she whispered to the shrub.

"No, I don't think they are," Jacqueline agreed.

Seeing as the cult was coming closer, Sheila hightailed it and started running away. The cult members immediately tailed her hightailing and followed as fast as their flapping robes would allow.

Jacqueline watched them depart through the woods before remembering there were still two idiot teenagers tied to the slab, so she went over and proceeded to untie them.

"Hello, youths," she said pleasantly. "No need to panic. Just getting you free."

The boy sat up as soon as he was free, looking at her in fear. "Who the heck are you, and why are you wearing that weird costume?" he demanded.

Jacqueline blinked. "… Okay, yeah, let's go with that," she said with a nod. "Now come along. We've got to get out of here before the cult gets back."

"But who are you? How are we going to escape?" Jessica asked.

"Well, first of all – Jacqueline. Second of all – walking away is an option. So is running."

Grabbing them both by the wrists, she proceeded to drag them out of the circle and back towards the shrubbery. They all ducked down and hid inside, and they took a moment to gather their wits.

"Okay," Jacqueline said quietly. "We just have to find my friend Sheila and we'll be good to go."

"I don't suppose she's a crazy lady in a lab coat, is she?" Jessica asked.

"As it so happens, yes, she is. Why?"

Jessica pointed past Jacqueline, who turned to see the cult was returning through the woods, and they had Sheila all tied up and on a long stick that was being carried between a couple cultists.

"PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" she shouted. "DON'T YOU _DARE_ SACRIFICE ME! YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYER! I'LL SUE!"

Jacqueline watched with a sinking heart as Sheila was laid out on the slab. "This might take a little longer than I thought," she sighed.

* * *

Hobbes sat listlessly on the ground, watching Calvin and Jackal continue to do their strange battle. He'd gotten a little bored watching them fight, so he was enjoying the strange parallel universe sky for a bit.

Calvin teleported behind Jackal and fired a laser at him with the MTM, which he did a strange ballet move to avoid and back flipped, landing neatly, kneeling down and throwing a knife, all in about two seconds. A force field appeared and saved Calvin, and then he expanded the force field so that it slammed Jackal to the ground.

The strange man got up and popped a crick out of his neck before he pulled out another gun and started firing again. Calvin teleported above him and fired another energy beam, which Jackal avoided by rolling away, redirecting his fire into the sky, but the boy stomped his foot and suddenly dropped to the ground just in time.

Hobbes took out a nail file and proceeded to sharpen his claws with it.

"Not that this hasn't been an absolute thrill," Jackal said, finally starting to sound out of breath, "but do you suppose we could wrap this up? One of us _has_ to be defeated at _some_ point." He leveled his gun at his opponent.

"Good point," Calvin said. "Let's do this. Hobbes?"

Hobbes put his nail file away, and in one swift motion, he was on his feet, rearing up and pounced Jackal to the ground, causing the gun to go skidding across the ground and over to Calvin, who snatched it up and swiftly pointed the end at Jackal's nose.

He writhed, but he couldn't move. Hobbes was too strong. He held him down with relative ease. Jackal could only stare at the gun in a slightly comical cross-eyed fashion.

"So… what are you going to do now?"

Calvin just smiled and withdrew the gun, popped it open and emptied it of its bullets. He snapped it shut again before placing before Jackal, and Hobbes got off of him.

Jackal just stayed on the ground for a moment, as if waiting to see if they were going to do anything else. When nothing happened, he slowly got back onto his feet, dusting himself off. "Well…," he said at last, "I guess the lesson here is 'beware the small ones – they travel in packs'."

"Oh yeah," Calvin agreed. "There's usually five of us."

"Ahem," MTM said.

"Okay, fine, six."

Jackal nodded. "Well, I must say, on your own, you were most effective. Very impressive machine you have there."

"Thank you," Calvin and MTM said together.

"Yes, well done. You prevented me from killing you. Not that I was going to, anyway."

"Oh, really?" Hobbes asked, a little annoyed. "Then why all the various guns?"

"Just having some fun. Keeping my skills sharp. Gotta keep sharp."

"Good for you," Calvin sighed. "I take it you enjoy guns?"

Jackal proceeded to take out a cigarette and put it between his lips. Then he took out another smaller gun and fired just past the tip of the cigarette, and then he took a long drag on it before taking it between his fingers and exhaling the plume of nicotine-laced smoke.

"You could say that," he replied.

Calvin toyed with pointing out that cigarettes were bad for you, then he remembered the fight they'd just had and decided it was pointless.

"So what brings you and your feline friend here, Calvin?" he asked casually.

"Hobbes, actually," the feline friend corrected.

"Parallel universe," Calvin replied.

"Beg pardon?" Jackal asked.

"We got transported here by some guy in a weird mask," Hobbes elaborated. "The two of us, the MTM, our friends and a mad scientist and his robot buddy. So… yeah, that's our day."

"Uh-huh…," Jackal said, looking doubtful. "And… where are these friends of yours?"

"I believe this is them over here, Jackal!" a new voice said, and they turned to see Doctor arrive with Andy, Sherman and Socrates.

"Hey, guys!" Calvin called over.

"Who's your new friend, Calvin?" Andy asked, approaching Jackal.

"This here's Jackal," Hobbes said. "He likes guns. And smoking."

"How do you do?" Jackal replied, holding out a hand.

Andy was relieved to see the hand looked fairly normal with no blood stains, so he had less issue with shaking it.

"Your friend Calvin was just telling me where you came from," he continued.

"Parallel universe," Andy, Sherman and Socrates all said together.

"So you're all sticking with that story?"

They all nodded.

"And we should buy that _why_ …?"

Doctor cleared his throat. "Well…"

"Oh, come on, Doc! You're going to go along with this?"

"Well, for openers, look at their clothes. They don't look like anything we've ever seen _ever_ in our entire lives."

"Those of us that are _wearing_ clothes," Hobbes felt compelled to point out.

"Darn right," agreed Socrates. "We've got a style all our own."

"You guys are weirdly proud of being naked," Andy remarked.

Sherman shrugged. "It's one less decision to make in the morning."

"Ditto," MTM added.

Doctor continued. "And let's take into consideration that they're nothing like the kids around here. These ones seem a little more on the ball…"

Jackal stroked his chin. "Well… I suppose… but there's a chance they're just really clever."

"These guys are just full of compliments," Calvin said with a smile.

"So what are you guys doing out here?" Andy asked the adults.

"We're part of a syndicate working for a larger organization," Jackal explained. "People give us jobs, and we carry them out, usually for oodles of cash or star crystals."

"So… contractors?" Hobbes asked.

Doctor shrugged. "That's a word for it."

"So what are you guys out for tonight?" asked Sherman.

Jackal and Doctor looked around, making sure no one else was in the area. Once they felt comfortable enough, Jackal looked the hamster in the eye.

"We're on an off-duty search and destroy mission," he said in a low voice. "A hive of vampires has formed close to our headquarters, and we're trying to find it and take it out before it grows any larger. After all, if they get _too_ powerful, we lose customers, if you get my meaning."

"If you catch his drift," Doctor added.

"Yikes," Socrates remarked. "Sounds like you've got a busy night ahead of you then."

"We need to get back to work," Doctor continued. "Where are Imposter and Puppeteer?"

"And we should probably also locate Dr Brainstorm and Jack," Hobbes added. "Might be too dangerous to just leave them out there."

"Hang on a second," Calvin said, holding up the CD player. "MTM – where Dr Brainstorm and Jack?"

MTM activated his long range scan and soon found he didn't need to. "They're about fifty yards away and closing…"

A few seconds later, Dr Brainstorm and Jack came running up – or rather, Dr Brainstorm came running up carrying Jack over his shoulder. He saw the others and immediately ducked behind Hobbes and Socrates.

"WE'RE NOT HIDING!" he yelled, automatically defensive. "We're… ensuring future victories! That's what we're doing!"

"You can put me down, Frank," Jack said.

"No! I can't guarantee your safety if you're going to spite me by strolling casually from danger!"

Then the two figures from earlier came running up, clearly having been chasing them. To the surprise of everyone, Jackal and Doctor walked up to them.

" _There_ you are!" Doctor complained.

"What in the world have you been doing?" Jackal demanded.

The one whose face was hidden entirely by a hood shrugged helplessly. "I thought the shiny one was a vampire," he explained.

"I still don't think he is," the larger one said. Everyone had to look up at him. He must've been at least seven feet tall. He wore a skull mask with crystal teeth. They quietly took note of a giant hammer with a scythe on the other end that he was carrying.

Jackal looked at Dr Brainstorm and Jack, who just stared back at him.

"Which one's the shiny one?" Jackal whispered. "They're both kind of… glistening…"

"The one over the shoulder," Doctor sighed. "The other's just sweaty."

"I was _running_ , thank you," Dr Brainstorm grumbled.

"Well, either way, you should've been able to tell these two aren't vampires!"

"Well, they're both pasty and weird-looking!"

" _Everyone_ is pasty and weird looking!"

"Fair point," Socrates remarked, earning glares from Calvin and Andy. "Still, Jack _is_ fairly pasty…"

"Thank you!" the hooded one exulted. "Glad _somebody_ sees it…"

"So, who're these guys?" Hobbes asked, indicating the new arrivals.

The tall one with the giant hammer and the chains wrapped across his cloak waved. "I'm Puppeteer. How you guys doing?"

"And I'm Imposter," the hooded one said. He held out a hand, which was covered by a large gauntlet that was so long it disappeared up his arm into his cloak. "Always happy to meet someone interesting. Nearly everyone in this town is boring…"

Socrates was the only one who made any attempt to shake the hand. "Likewise," he agreed. "Can't stand people who just go through life merely existing. Gotta get out there and _do stuff_!"

"Exactly! Can't just sit back and let the monsters gobble everyone up! Gotta do something about it!"

"And what do you do about it?"

"I swordfight."

"Really? Can I see your sword?"

Imposter nodded eagerly, pulling out two large swords which, the gang soon found out, were actually two large chainsaws _shaped_ like swords. They roared mechanically as he pulled them into the open air, causing them all to jump back.

"Good grief!" Hobbes cried.

"Yep!" Imposter grinned. "You should me in battle! No vampires or werewolves _ever_ get past me!"

"Oh please," Jackal grumbled, not bothering to look at him anymore.

Socrates, however, was impressed. "How much do you pay for those things…?"

"Oh, I made 'em myself!" Imposter said proudly.

"I see… Sherman, dear friend, I don't suppose…?"

Sherman looked up at the giant chainsaw swords with a mixture of fear and contemplation. "Er… well…"

"Shermie, _no_ ," Andy said sternly.

"I wasn't going to give them to _him_. Just… you know… the mechanical aspect…"

Imposter continued showing off for Socrates. "They both have blood gems installed in them, and thus power the chainsaw aspect of the weapons, as well as my minor ice abilities."

"Wait, you have ice powers?" Calvin asked.

"Oh, sure! Nothing major. But it comes in handy sometimes."

Imposter flicked his fingers in the air, and few shards of ice came raining down on Jackal, thoroughly annoying him.

"I can create illusions, too!" he continued.

"Yeah, except you stink at it," Jackal grumbled.

"I do _not_!"

"You're not exceptionally good at it," Doctor pointed out.

"I am so! I just… get distracted sometimes, that's all!"

"Distracted like _how_?" Jack asked.

"Usually by his own illusions," Puppeteer explained, patting his teammate on the shoulder. "They're so effective that sometimes even _he_ falls for them…"

"You fall for your own mirages?" Dr Brainstorm asked slowly, sounding very worried.

Imposter shrugged helplessly. "It's not like I mean to!"

"He doesn't use that power very often," Doctor sighed.

"Don't worry about that, Imposter!" Socrates said, putting an arm around the man – who was about two whole feet taller than him. "Perhaps we can expand your arsenal a bit!"

"… Really?" Imposter asked hopefully.

"You should listen to him," Hobbes said. "This guy knows more about variety in weaponry than any of us."

"I'll say," Calvin grumbled. "I've had to take more baths than ever since I met him, the screaming lunatic."

"See? I have quotes!" Socrates said brightly.

Imposter looked at the red-tailed tiger for a minute before looking at Jackal and Doctor. "I say we be friends with these guys and take them with us!"

Doctor did a double take. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, they might be helpful on the mission!"

"No, they couldn't! They're two kids, two large cats, a rodent and a… whatever that thing is…"

"We're here, too, you know," Dr Brainstorm grumbled, already not liking the blood-stained man before him.

"Oh, right, a guy with a stupid haircut and a man made of metal. How silly of me. What possible use are you two going to be?"

Dr Brainstorm's eyes flared, and he pulled out his Servant Ray. "Servant Ray – _do not_ -!"

Jack immediately grabbed his arm and pulled it down. "Easy, Frank. Can't kill him just because he's annoying."

"They're just going to get killed!" Doctor said angrily.

Jackal glanced at Calvin, remembering the fight they'd just finished. "Well… probably, yes… But… well… huh."

Doctor stared at him. "You're kidding me, right? You're actually considering this?"

Puppeteer shrugged. "Well, if they've survived the night this long…"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

Calvin finally spoke up again. "Okay, you know what? I don't like you all that much, so why don't you just shut up?" He pulled out the Transmogrifier Gun and pointed it Doctor, and when he pulled the trigger, the air around his face twisted and warped, and a long strip of duct tape attached itself to the man's mouth. He pulled at it, but it wouldn't come off.

Jackal smirked. "We've been trying to shut him up for years," he said with an approving nod. "Solid work."

"Thank you," Calvin replied, putting the water pistol back in his pocket. "So how far into your mission are you?"

"We were going to head to where the vampire hive might be," Puppeteer explained, as they ignored Doctor's attempts to get the tape off.

"'Might' be?" Andy repeated.

"There's plenty of places for them to hide," Imposter explained. "We're just inspecting each one until we find it."

"And what place did you have in mind?" Sherman asked.

"There's an abandoned old house we've got in mind," Jackal told them. "It has no star crystals to light it nor locks to keep it safe."

Calvin nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds ideal for vampires…"

"Exactly."

"Well, we can do this quite easily," Calvin said. "Show us the house, and I'll use the MTM to scan for life signs."

"Since I've never detected vampires before, they should have a unique life sign," the CD player agreed.

Jackal shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Let's move out, team."

Doctor was still struggling with the tape as they walked off. Calvin and Jackal were comparing notes, Hobbes, Andy and Sherman were following behind with Puppeteer, and Socrates and Imposter were chatting excitedly about future plans.

Dr Brainstorm and Jack remained back. "Are we sure we want to deal with this?" the mad scientist grumbled, ignoring Doctor signaling to them to take the tape off.

"Well, it's either that or just go through even more running away from vampires and werewolves and whatever else is out there."

"Hmmm… and they do seem to know how to fight these creatures better than we do."

"Admitting superior skill when you see it, Frank? You're growing up so fast."

"That'll do, you metal moron. Come on."

They stalked off after the group. As they passed him, Jack reached over and casually ripped the duct tape off Doctor's mouth, causing him to yelp in a rather falsetto tone with pain. He rubbed his sore mouth and followed the others, cursing quietly.

* * *

It took about twenty minutes to reach the house, during which they had no encounters with monsters, which struck them as a tad strange, but they chalked it up to traffic and continued on.

The house was a large gothic structure with menacing statues and gargoyles lining it. Two stories up, it was made of wood, which was decrepit and rotting away. In the dark, it looked like a monster all itself.

Socrates let out a whistle. "They need to fire their contractor…"

"So what do we do now?" Jackal asked, looking down at Calvin expectantly.

"Well, usually, we just let MTM scan the location for anything dangerous, and whatever he finds, we investigate," the boy replied.

"Even if it's a wild animal capable of ripping your limbs off?" Doctor asked, applying more of his own ointment to his sore upper lip.

"That'd be me, actually," Hobbes replied, showing off his fangs. "Just in case you forgot. Don't worry. Everyone does."

"Well, it _would_ be handy to know what's in there before we go traipsing in," Puppeteer pointed out.

Jackal nodded. "Do your thing, kid."

Calvin pulled out the MTM and aimed it at the house. "Okay, MTM – scan for _anything_. Save for maybe microorganisms. We don't have all night."

"Check," MTM replied, and a long green light stretched out and quickly traced the entire structure, running back and forth for about five seconds and then retracting back in the CD player's casing.

"Whoa…," Imposter whispered, thoroughly impressed.

"Processing…," MTM said. "Processing…"

"Processing _what_ , exactly?" Puppeteer asked.

"We've never had the nerve to ask," Andy replied.

"Processing… Okay, I've got it."

"Well?" Calvin asked.

"There's definitely movement inside the house."

"You promise it's not just germs this time?" Hobbes asked. "Because I remember the last time…"

"No, it's definitely a life form. Thing is, they're giving off no _life signatures_. That means I can't tell how many there are. I just know they're _there_."

"There, there," Andy said, patting his casing. "That's good enough for us."

Calvin pocketed the MTM. "So now comes the fun part. We go inside and hope against hope something interesting happens."

"I like that plan," Jackal approved. "Let's move out."

"Or 'in', rather," Imposter noted, earning a snicker from Socrates.

They all headed into the house.


	7. Lair of the Vampires

Steven sat silently at a desk in a small room, examining and filling out a mass of paperwork that was laid out before him. Beside him was a rather large computer and keyboard that took up half the room, and somewhat cramped the small man as he wrote. It had only been about forty five minutes since his initial encounter with his rather strange employers, and he had barley made a dent in the tower of forms that he still needed to fill out.

As he wrote, he heard the door in front of him open, he looked up and, to his relief, saw a completely normal looking blonde haired woman enter the room, with a mug of coffee and another folder of what he presumed was more paperwork.

"Mr... Vaghn, yes?" She inquired in a thick french accent, looking down at the folder.

"That would be me," Steven said, straightening himself up.

"I just need you to sign this," She said, simply, handing him a piece of paper from the folder.

Steven took it and examined it, adjusting his glasses. "What's this?" He inquired.  
"Release form saying the U.S. government is not responsible for any injuries, mutations, and or loss of any personal equipment or sanity while on the clock."

Steven paused. "Loss of... sorry?" He started, looking back up.

The woman shrugged. "I dunno, I didn't read all of it. You can if you want."

"No, I... Okay..." Steven sighed and signed the paper before handing it back to her.

She took the paper and placed it back in the folder, before turning to leave.

"Say... Have you happened to work with Dr Shade or Shack in the past?" Steven chimed in.

The woman paused and turned back around.

"Well... Dr Shade was my professor during my research into the possibility of alternate realities." She offered, straightening the papers. "He helped me immensely on the work of my thesis on the subject."

"Has he... always wore the mask?"

"What mask? Oh the old plague doctor's mask? Yeah, he's had that since I met him. Honestly, I forget he's wearing it, sometimes." She nodded, reminiscently. "He sure is attached to that thing."

"What about Shack? What's he like?" Steven inquired.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious what my future coworkers will be like." Steven shrugged.

The woman sighed. "Look, I know the two of them are a little bit quirky, but trust me, they are some of the most brilliant minds I have ever had the honor of meeting. As time goes on, you'll begin to see that as well."

At that moment, the door behind Steven flung open and Shade came striding in. He nodded in greeting to the woman and Steven before going to the computer and typing commands into it. Shack came bounding in after Shade with an excited expression on his face.

"SHADE! I FOUND MY STUFFED SQUIRREL! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHERE IT WAS!"

"I don't care, Shack!"

"IT WAS UNDER MY PILLOW THE WHOLE TIME!"

"Shack, let's go!"

"I was wondering why I wasn't getting my perfect sleep status!"

"SHACK!"

"Coming!"

Shack cheerfully skipped over to Shade before he hit a button on his watch. The two seemed to flicker for a second like they were on a bad television, before the familiar teleporter sound was heard and the two vanished.

Steven and the woman exchanged glances.

"Well I'll be in my office if you need anything." She said, simply before turning and walking out of the room.

Steven sat in silence for a short moment, before sighing and turning back to his paperwork.

* * *

There was a flash of light as the teleportation completed, and Shade and Shack both reappeared in a dark room, in which neither of them could see anything around them. Around them, however was the ever persistent sound of and uncountable amount of machines humming, whirring, beeping and grinding.

"Dang it, Shack! Did you turn the light systems off when we left last time?!" Shade was heard shouting in the darkness.

"Hey man, don't knock me for trying to save on the electrical bill." Shack replied.

"We don't even pay the electrical bill! The government does!"

"And did you see how high it was last pay period?" Shack insisted.

Shade growled and began feeling his way forward, looking for a wall.

After stubbing his toe numerous times and kicking his shin on at least four different pieces of metal, the scientist finally found a lever on the wall, and pulled it down.

There was a loud clunk, followed by the sound of lights flickering on one by one and finally flooding the entire room with light, revealing its size. The room was grand hall sized, with stone pillars reaching high to the ceiling. The room stretched on for the distance of almost two football fields, and in the entire distance, separated only by small paths, were towers of large computers and miscellaneous machines, all operating from one massive wall of machinery at the very end of the room.

Shade grumbled to himself and limped back over to Shade, who was happily holding a stuffed squirrel in his hands.

"Put that down and come help me." Shade growled, as he approached the main machine.

Shack shrugged and placed the squirrel on one of the computers, before following his boss to the main wall, which took a significant amount of time to reach, considering the size of the room. Once there, the two went right to work. Typing on their own respective keyboards, flipping switches and adjusting knobs and meters. All the while, other computers and machines around them roared to life and crackled with electricity in true mad scientist manner, while others simply changed the pitch of their beeping and whirred louder.

"What are we going to do about the Luna universe?" Shack asked suddenly, looking over to Shade, while maintaining his constant typing.

Shade turned and gave Shack a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"It took you so many years to build this." Shack said, looking around the machines and computers around him. "And you need to rebuild it in the Luna universe as well. Are we really going to wait another ten years to actually be able to put the plan in motion?"

Shade chuckled. "Oh don't you worry about that, Shack." He said, ominously, looking back up at the screen before him. "I already have a plan for that."

He hit another button, causing all the computers to synchronically beep.

"We'll be setting the plan in motion tonight."

* * *

The amount of terror and foreboding that struck Calvin and his group as they entered the house was almost petrifying. In the darkness, they could only make out the faint outline of a staircase leading up into an unseen second floor. The vague outline of furniture also surrounded them, with a few chairs and a silk couch sitting a little bit further from the stairs. The walls were decorated with what appeared to be some type of mural, but it was unrecognizable in the dark. The little bit that was visible appeared to have a heavy amount of water and decay damage, no doubt from the constant flooding throughout the moon cycles. There was no sign of any movement or even a recognition that anyone had entered.

The comically large group of eleven huddled close to each other, as they looked around the house, wearily.

"Okay..." Calvin whispered. "I don't think they know we're here. If we're quiet, we might be able to..."

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

Before Calvin could finish his plan, Jackal stepped forward and materialized a large pistol in his hand, and fired it off at the ceiling.

"Or there's that." Calvin grumbled.

In an instant, the house roared to life with the sound of deep screeching and roaring as several dark figures appeared out of seemingly nowhere, crawling down from the ceiling and walls, and picking themselves up from behind shadows the group had previously thought were vacant. Like an infestation of cockroaches the house was suddenly crawling with the dark figures, each of them sporting brightly glowing white eyes.

In that same instant, at least half of them began diving down from the ceiling towards Jackal.

"MTMFORCEFIELDPLEASE!" Calvin screamed, as the vampires began surrounding the group.

"Mmkay."

Calvin and his entire group quickly huddled next to Calvin as the usual blue and electrified dome surrounded them, and at least three vampires collided with it.

Jackal laughed, and threw his jacket back, revealing even more guns as he began shooting at the creatures as they rained down onto him.

Imposter jumped in next, whipping his chainsaw swords out, and twirling them around his hands, as they switched on as well, and he began attacking the vampires.

The Doctor also jumped in, whipping out his own, smaller weapons in the forms of scalpels.

Puppeteer watched this for a moment, then heaved a deep sigh. "I would've been ok with the stealth route." He mumbled.

He took a step forward and held his hammer above his head. As he brought it down, he smashed into the wooden floor and brought it back up again, taking some of the floor with him. The splintered wood bonded and formed together into a scrawny creature made entirely of the wood from the floor. It was about Hobbes' size and had long spindly arms and legs with long pointed fingers. After a moment of it gaining itself and looking around, it let out a high pitched cry and dove into the mass as well, clawing at the vampires.

Everyone watched in amazement.

"That... that was awesome!" Andy exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

Puppeteer paused for a moment and stared at his hammer.

"I... I hit the floor...," he said simply, not knowing how else to answer the question.

"Can you do more?" Andy insisted.

"Yeah, I..."

At that moment, several metal spikes jetted out of the ground surrounding Puppeteer and Calvin's group, startling everyone and causing them to jump.

"MY BAD!" Imposter was heard calling out. "THOSE AREN'T ACTUALLY THERE, SORRY!"

Puppeteer sighed again, and struck the floor once more, rising another construct that dove into the horde.

"OW!" Doctor was heard calling out.

"You okay Doc?" Jackal cried, firing at a couple more vampires.

"Yeah, I think I cut myself…," Doctor called.

"You _cut_ yourself? How'd you manage that?"

"These scalpels are sharp! Shut up!"

Imposter did a backflip over Jackal's head, leaving behind him a slight trail of cold air, as he struck his blade into one of the vampires, causing it to freeze in place.

"Forgot about your ice abilities again, didn't you?" Jackal sneered.

"No!" Imposter said, defensively, beginning to freeze multiple of the vampires that came after him.

At that moment, another vampire appeared from the wall and dove at Imposter, screeching.

"WHOA THERE!" he shouted, swinging his chainsaw sword through the vampire, only to have it phase right through it with no effect. It got up to under an inch from his face before it disappeared from sight.

Imposter paused for a moment, blinking in confusion before he realized what had happened.

"Right…," he said. "Illusion... I meant to do that!"

Calvin and the group watched in amazement, as the syndicate proceeded to plow through the vampires with ease, despite the several mess ups that were constantly occurring throughout the fight. As time went on, the number of vampires began to dwindle, and finally, they stopped coming all together.

The syndicate stopped fighting and soon were catching their breath, hunched over and wheezing unfavorably.

"Phew!" Jackal breathed. "Think we got that sorted for now."

Almost timidly, MTM lowered his force field, allowing the others to spread out and take in the sight of the defeated vampires. They looked around in amazement, not sure what to say after a display like that.

"Well," Dr Brainstorm croaked. "Color me impressed."

"Yeah, it was like the most incompetent action movie ever produced," Jack agreed.

Jackal cleared his throat. "Yes, well… yeah, we may have our difficulties, but we certainly get the job done."

"More often than not," Doctor added, already tending to his self-inflicted wounds with some gauze and bandages.

Imposter approached Socrates, who at the moment looked like he was trying to restart his heart. "How'd I do? What'd you think? Did I do good?"

Socrates looked his new friend up and down, nodding a bit. "Well, you've definitely got the fooling people thing down. But I tell ya, I see room for improvement."

"Really?"

"No kidding," Doctor muttered.

"Yep!" Socrates continued. "I'm seeing something involving copious amount of sauce."

"… Sauce?" Imposter wasn't sure if he'd heard correctly.

"Sure! Mustard, ketchup, mayo, hot sauce, horse radish, relish… Last week, I experimented with guacamole, but it didn't really have the fluid distribution I was hoping for. Didn't stain all that well…"

"I beg to differ," Calvin grumbled, still recoiling at the memory.

Socrates ignored him. "And then there's the matter of using tripwire. I don't suppose you've ever considered using tripwire before."

"Well, there'd be so little time to set it up beforehand, wouldn't there?"

"Nonsense! It's all about time management! You can have at least _three_ traps set up within five minutes!"

Doctor cleared his throat. "Ahem! Excuse me! If the Nutcase Society can adjourn, I feel we should get back to work."

"On what?" Hobbes asked. "Haven't you beaten the vampires?"

"This lot, sure, but there's still plenty more to do here. The house isn't clear yet, so how about we keep moving forwards? Hmmm?"

Jackal nodded. "Sure thing, Doc. Let's get a move on."

Doctor squeezed his eyes shut. "Don't call me 'Doc'."

"Okay, Doc."

Calvin snickered at the two as they made their way up the corridor.

Dr Brainstorm simply patted Doctor on the shoulder as he passed. "I know your pain," he muttered, sending a glare at Jack, who just looked away innocently.

Passing into the next part of the house, Calvin used the MTM to scan some more. "I don't suppose you got a copy of the vampire DNA in your hard drive now…?"

"Oh, yeah," MTM assured him. "I can detect more of them already."

"How many?"

"A lot."

"Where?"

"Up."

Everyone stared, then, reacting quickly, Jackal pulled out his gun and started firing above them, sending a hail of bullets raining down that were only deflected by the MTM's force field.

"A little to the left," MTM told him.

Jackal blinked, then adjusted his gun appropriately, fired twice, and a dead vampire fell to the floor before them.

"Well, that was handy," Puppeteer remarked. "Wish we had that kind of thing _all_ the time."

"No kidding!" Jackal exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"

"Oh, just basic life form scanning," MTM replied. "I just lock onto the life form's heat signature, DNA strands and hair color, and hey presto – I find 'em."

"Yeah, it comes in handy when a certain tiger is prowling you around your own home for kicks," Calvin said, throwing a glare at Hobbes, who looking away innocently.

"So where do we look now?" asked Puppeteer.

"Higher into the house," MTM replied. "This was just a sentry. The 'platoon', as it were, are on the top floor."

"Excellent," said Jackal. "Up we go."

They made their way to a narrow staircase, and it was really then that they realized how many of them there were in their little group. Hardly any room for anyone to walk side-by-side.

Jackal turned back to the group. "Okay, let's simplify," he said authoritatively. "Only those who have weapons are permitted upstairs. Fair?"

Doctor held up his scalpels, Imposter held up his chainsaw swords, Puppeteer held up his hammer, Calvin held up the MTM, Dr Brainstorm held up the Servant Ray, Jack held up his hands, which turned into various portable devices, Hobbes held up his claws and bared his fangs and Socrates did the same.

The only ones _not_ holding up anything were Andy and Sherman, who both felt a little surplus at the moment.

"We really need some cool toys to play with," Andy muttered, crossing his arms.

Still, it was more people than Jackal had been expecting, and he scratched his head awkwardly. "Okay…," he murmured. "How about this…? I'll go up with Imposter, Puppeteer, Calvin and the Brainstorm fellow. The rest of you stay down here and… well, I dunno… look after the kid with the rat."

"Hamster!" Sherman angrily corrected.

Doctor was similarly indignant. "Why do _I_ have to stay behind?" he demanded.

Jackal shrugged. "Just trying to keep everyone safe."

"Plus, we don't like you that much," Calvin added.

Jackal, Imposter and Puppeteer did their best not to laugh, stifling a few snorts before heading up the staircase.

Dr Brainstorm clutched the Servant Ray and looked over at Jack. "Well, I guess I'll be back momentarily. If any vampires show up… Well, you know…"

"Try and harness their power for you to take over the world?" Jack guessed.

"Yes, thank you."

And with that, the mad scientist followed the others up the stairs.

Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates and Jack all looked over at Doctor, who looked back at them awkwardly, not sure what to do or say.

"So…," Hobbes said slowly. "You… er… well… huh."

"Yeah…," Doctor replied, rubbing his neck.

Everyone looked around uncomfortably for a few seconds more.

Then, they were startled by the arrival of the screeching vampires raining down on them.

"Oh, thank _god_!" Hobbes sighed, extending his claws.

* * *

Meanwhile, upstairs, Calvin, Dr Brainstorm, Jackal, Imposter and Puppeteer were battling it out with a huge swarm of vampires.

"Servant Ray – _do not_ zap that vampire!" Dr Brainstorm ordered, firing his weapon at a couple of vampires. The device released a beam of sunlight that hit the creatures and caused them to wither away into dust.

Puppeteer couldn't help but be a bit impressed. "Nice one," he called over before slamming the floor with his hammer. Some similar constructs to the ones he had made downstairs sprang into life and began attacking the vampires.

Imposter was going at it with his chainsaw swords, doing what he could and laughing his head off, enjoying his work. However, when some vampires descending upon him, they only fell through him, revealing that _this_ Imposter was just that – an imposter. The actual Imposter attacked them for real with his actual chainsaw swords.

Calvin and Jackal fought close to each other. Jackal was firing his various guns, interchanging them with ease, while Calvin used the MTM's various weapons to destroy the vampires.

At one point, Calvin fired a laser that transformed into mini-tornado that caught a few of the slower vampires in it, and within seconds of being trapped, there was nothing left of them.

"How'd you do _that_?" Jackal asked, managing to shoot and be amazed at the same time.

"Concentrated time vortex!" Calvin replied. "Just ages them to nothing!"

"Aw, _man_ – how do I get one of those?"

"Well, you need a machine that can effectively warp space and time."

"That'd be me," MTM spoke up.

They were interrupted by the arrival of another vampire, and Calvin pressed a button that caused a pair of robot arms to extend, grab the vampire by the arms and slam it into the wall.

"It grows hands, too?" Jackal exclaimed.

"I've been working on the strength in the arms," Calvin said. "They can grab an entire human being now."

"Yep," MTM said, "I've been pumping iron."

Jackal shook his head in amazement. "I really need to find a way to make some of these things for myself."

Calvin shrugged. "We'll talk after we're done here."

Thankfully, at that moment, the battle seemed to be slowing down, with fewer vampires left, and Imposter, Puppeteer and Dr Brainstorm finishing off the last of them.

"Phew!" Imposter said with a laugh, taking care of the last vampire and switching off his chainsaw swords. "Got that done!"

"Was that all of them?" Puppeteer asked, still holding his hammer just in case.

Calvin held the MTM up. "Are there any left, MTM?"

MTM scanned the room. "Well… hmmmm… there's definitely one still left alive, but I can't seem to figure out where… Oh, wait. Got it."

"Yeah, got it," Jackal said in a strangely gurgled voice.

Everyone turned and saw, to their horror, the last vampire was clutching Jackal by his neck, holding up a few feet off the ground. He was trying to get his guns, but he couldn't reach them without strangling himself, so he had to keep his hands on the vampire's clenched hand.

Dr Brainstorm found his voice. "Well… I don't suppose anyone can… you know… save him?"

"Sure," Imposter said brightly. "It's just a matter of doing so without killing him as well!"

"Always a snag," Puppeteer sighed.

The vampire hissed viciously at them, baring its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight outside. It scanned the group before locking eyes with Calvin. It was becoming clear that it was going to do _something_ to Jackal, and although the boy wasn't one hundred percent that vampires in this world matched the mythology in his world, he knew he had to do _something_ to stop the vampire's _something_.

So his fingers twitched a little, which was enough to hold the vampire's attention, as it realized Calvin was going to do something. The boy tapped the side of the MTM, managing to get a certain button pressed just as he was holding him up and aiming it at Jackal. There was a flash of blue electricity, and Jackal disappeared in a wisp of smoke, startling the vampire. Calvin then aimed the MTM at the other side of the room, and another flash of electricity deposited Jackal on the floor.

Realizing he was safe, Puppeteer slammed his hammer into the floor and a large construct attacked the vampire.

Jackal took a few moments to realize what had happened. In that time, Dr Brainstorm grabbed his face and moved his head from left to right, checking his neck for any injuries. "Light bruising, but other than that, you'll potentially live to sing opera," he deadpanned before the others joined him.

"You okay, boss?" Imposter asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Jackal murmured, rubbing his sore neck. "… Thanks, kid," he said appreciatively.

"No sweat," Calvin said. "MTM – you kinda slacked off back there."

"Not my fault. Those vampires are slippery. Managed to trick my life scanner so I couldn't pinpoint it," MTM replied defensively.

"Well, we'd better get downstairs and see what the others are doing," Puppeteer suggested.

They hurried down the stairs, and to their surprise, they saw Doctor, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates and Jack standing over three defeated vampires, which were clawed up, bitten and, somehow, smoldering a bit.

Hobbes was in the middle of dusting his paws when he saw the others coming into the room. "Oh, hey!" he said in an out-of-breath voice. "Get everything taken care of?"

"The perimeter has been secured," Calvin replied breezily.

Dr Brainstorm noticed that Jack's various finger weapons had all been extended. "Oh, I see!" he grumbled. "You'll use all your features when _you're_ in danger, but when _I'm_ trying to blow up a city, you're too busy watching Netflix!"

Jack thought for a moment. "Hmmmm… Yeah, that sums it up. Thanks, Frank."

" _Dr Brainstorm_!"

Doctor was just pocketing his scalpels and various other tools. "Well, now that we've got that finished with, perhaps we should get going back to our quarters."

"Definitely," Puppeteer agreed. "Time for a break."

"Yeah, you guys will like our place," Jackal told Calvin. "Nice big studio apartment. Rent's reasonable, excellent view of the city…"

"I've always liked the idea of having an apartment," Calvin said thoughtfully.

"Mostly from all the sitcoms you watch," Hobbes pointed out.

"Well, they make 'em look so _good_!"

Doctor cleared his throat with a disapproving expression. "Wait… they're coming _home_ with us now…?"

Jackal shrugged. "Well, where _else_ are they going to go while the sun's down?"

"Yeah, we already tried to gain entry to some other places, but all the doors are locked," Socrates said.

"And I am _not_ sleeping in that dumpster again," Andy added.

"It wouldn't be forever," Sherman put in. "It's just until we can find a way back to our home universe. Shouldn't be more than… I dunno… a few days?"

"Better have a pullout sofa or _something_ ," Dr Brainstorm added grumpily.

"Ooh, guests!" Imposter exclaimed excitedly. "I'll get to use the good China!"

Seeing Doctor still having misgivings, Jackal went over and playfully elbowed him in the side. "Come on, Doc, these kids are good in a fight, and the Brainstorm guy and his metal friend are definitely helpful. Safety in numbers and all that."

Doctor looked at them for a long moment. Calvin and Hobbes in particular gave him very winning smiles. His head slumped in defeat before he looked over at Jackal.

"Don't call me 'Doc'."

Jackal just grinned and led the others toward the door. "Come on, let's get going."

* * *

The studio apartment was a surprisingly large. You'd think it'd be cramped for four people, plus two kids, two tigers, a hamster, a grown man and a robot, but it was amazingly spacious. There was a large wooden table sitting in the middle of the room with several papers and folders over it. A few tiny star crystals were sitting upon it as well. Around the room, it was abundantly clear who inhabited what part of the room. On the immediate left entering the apartment was a somewhat messy bed with a desk and several different variations of Jackal's mask. To the right was a large armchair adjacent to a large bookcase which seemed to contain a lot of books on medical study. It was the most obviously cleanest part of the apartment. In front the bookcase was another bed next to a small kitchen area with a crude ice box. Directly across the room was a large picture window that overlooked Lunanox. A single large wooden chair sat at the edge of it close by to Puppeteer's immensely large bed.

"So what do we do now?" Andy asked.

"Well, first, we need to start work on finding a way home," Sherman said. "We can do that by scanning for rifts in the area. Maybe another one will open up and allow us passage home."

"How do we find one of those?" Socrates asked.

"Well, we could start by scanning for one," Calvin suggested. "MTM – would you be able to detect a rift in time and space?"

"Sounds like it's up my alley," MTM replied. The CD player began to rev like a car, and a few lights on his casing lit up as he went to work.

The others stood around him, waiting for him to give them an answer.

"Processing… Processing… _Processing_ … Oh! That's weird."

"What's weird?" asked Jack.

"There's a rift. It just opened up a few moments ago. Not far from here, actually."

"Really? Simple as that?" Hobbes asked.

"Sure looks like it."

Calvin scratched his head. "Hmmmm… Sounds a little _too_ easy…"

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

"I mean… something smells fishy. Maybe we'd better approach this cautiously."

"How so?" Hobbes asked.

"Hobbes – you and I are going to teleport over and check it out. The rest of you stay here. We'll teleport back if it's safe."

"And if it isn't safe?" Jackal asked.

Calvin blinked. "Well… that'll be that, then."

Hobbes rolled his eyes. "Truly the mind of a great leader."

"Quiet, you. MTM – teleport us to the site of the rift."

"On it," MTM replied.

A second later, there was a flair of electricity, and Calvin, Hobbes and the MTM were ka-zapped out of the room.

Everyone stared at the spot for a moment.

"So… does anyone want a beverage?" Puppeteer asked amiably.

"Well, I'll take a root beer if you have any…," Socrates replied.

* * *

In an alley lined with dumpsters, garbage and sewage, Calvin and Hobbes materialized in their new location with the MTM.

Hobbes immediately plugged his nose with his fingers. "Eugh!" he wailed. "Of all the places for a rift in time and space to open up…! Curse my superior sense of smell!"

Calvin looked around, waving the stench away by using the MTM as a fan. "Okay, where's this rift?"

"Not far," MTM said as he went up and down. "Just a few yards down the alley. Towards the end of it."

"How appropriate," Hobbes grumbled. "Let's get going."

They walked further into the alley, determined not to vomit from the place, but they weren't sure. However, as they were approaching a curve in the alley, they found themselves face to face when something unfortunately familiar.

The same strange-looking mask and the tattered straw hat.

Shake and Shade stood at the other end of the alley, and they were looking straight at them.


	8. Know Thy Enemy

The man in the mask looked down at Calvin and Hobbes. They couldn't see behind the mask, but it was a mixture of disdain and curiosity he was sending his way. The man in the straw hat stood to his side, looking very casual about the whole thing – hands in pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels.

"A little boy like you shouldn't be out late at night," the man in the mask said sarcastically.

"Where'd you come from?" Calvin asked.

The man in the hat went to open his mouth, but the man in the mask clamped a hand over it to keep him quiet.

"We picked up a powerful energy surge in this area," Calvin continued, holding up the MTM. "I take it you had something to do with it."

"Maybe," the masked man said.

Hobbes looked them up and down. "Who are you guys, anyway?"

"We're scientists."

"Scientists doing what?"

The man in the hat cleared his throat and lowered the other's hand. "Science-y type things."

"Do our scientist friends have _names_?" Calvin asked slowly.

"Oh, we don't need names," the masked man said with a smile in his voice. "We're just scientists entertaining ourselves."

"In an alley?" Hobbes asked.

"Plenty to do in an alley."

"Including playing 'Twenty Questions'," Calvin sighed, holding up the MTM. "Seeing as how we're getting nowhere fast, why don't we speed things up a notch?"

The tip of the MTM's casing flared with electricity, and a huge blast of energy zigzagged across the alley and engulfed the enemy.

However, when it cleared a moment later, the two men stood where they were, unharmed and unmoved.

Hobbes raised his eyebrows. "Well, that's different…"

Calvin slowly lowered the MTM, looking at the two men in confusion. "How…?"

"I have a force field generator in my teeth," the masked man replied. "I merely have to clench my teeth to activate and deactivate it."

"I suppose that's _one_ way to fight cavities…," Hobbes murmured.

Mentally noting to try and create a similar force field for himself, Calvin picked up a nearby stone and chucked it in the enemy's direction. The stone bounced off the force field, which lit up in the form of a light blue sphere.

"Impressive," the boy admitted. "But maybe we can do something about that. MTM – teleport me inside the force field!"

MTM lit up, and Calvin disappeared in a zap of electricity, leaving a wisp of smoke next to Hobbes. A split-second later, he reappeared, but the two men had vanished from that spot and reappeared a few feet away.

"Oh, now what?" Calvin demanded.

"Teleport in the wristwatch," the masked man replied, holding up his wrist and showing off the device in question.

Calvin gritted his teeth. "MTM – teleport on him!"

Once again, Calvin disappeared in a wisp of smoke, and as soon as he was about to set down on the two men, they disappeared and reappeared a few feet away in a flash.

"Now, now, little boy," the masked man said in a taunting tone. "Can't keep up with the grownups?"

He pressed his watch again, and the two men flashed and zapped around the two friends, and soon they were appearing and disappearing in a consistent circle around them, never missing a beat in his conversation.

"Little boy like you should just run home to his mommy and daddy. You shouldn't toy with things in the multiverse you don't understand."

Calvin was getting frustrated, and he tried firing MTM's lasers, trying to predict where the two men would end up next, but of course, the force field protected them each time.

"Such a violent little boy! You really should learn to play nicely!"

Thankfully, Hobbes came forward and grabbed Calvin by the shoulder. "Yeah, just try it eight more times, and maybe it'll work," he hissed into his friend's ear.

Taking the hint, Calvin took a deep breath and calmed down, lowering the MTM.

The masked man finally stopped teleporting and came a stop just behind Calvin. "Awww, is the poor little boy all tired out? Just as well. Time's running out anyway. Time for us to depart, Shack."

"Okiedokie, Shade!" Shack replied, pulling a device out of his pocket and tossing it on the ground. "See ya, guys!" he said cheerfully.

"No, we won't, Shack," Shade said patiently.

"No?"

"No."

"Why?"

"They'll be dead."

"Oh! Well, that's a shame…"

"Indeed."

With that, Shade pressed a button on his wristwatch, and they teleported away once more.

Calvin and Hobbes looked all around, but the two men never returned.

"… Shade and Shack," MTM mused. "Sounds like an Indie Rock duo."

"Never mind that," Hobbes said. "What's _that_?"

They looked at the device Shack had thrown on the ground. "MTM, give us a scan," Calvin said. "What's the deal?"

A beam of minty green light shot from the CD player, and he hummed for a moment as he examined the data. "Hmmmm… not sure. I've never seen anything like it. But its origin is definitely from _our_ universe, and not this one."

"Could've guessed," Hobbes remarked. "Those guys didn't strike me as being natives."

"What's it supposed to do?" Calvin asked, looking closely at the device.

"Looks like it might be a really attractive doorstop," MTM said.

Hobbes was just getting down on all fours to give it a good sniffing when it finally did something.

It let out the loudest most ear-piercing screech either of them had either heard. It was like a zillion car alarms, angry cats, and air horns going off in continuous unison.

Hobbes let out a screech of his own before plugging his ears with his fingers, and Calvin did the same, causing him to drop the MTM on the ground.

"Something tells me this device is meant to disorient and confuse," the CD player grumbled.

"What?" Calvin shouted.

"I said, I think this device is meant to disorient us!" MTM said a little louder.

" _What?!_ " Hobbes shouted.

MTM sighed electronically before noticing a rather worrying blip appeared on his radar, and then a few more. Creatures were coming.

 _Monsters_ were coming.

They looked up and saw, coming around the corner, was a pack of werewolves, all growling and clearly in the mood for little-boy-flesh and tiger-flesh.

"Run!" MTM shouted.

"What?" Calvin shouted back.

"I said, _run_!"

The werewolves were coming closer.

"I think we should run!" Calvin shouted.

" _What?!_ " Hobbes asked.

Calvin grabbed the MTM and Hobbes' arm, and they turned and fled the scene. The werewolves broke into a sprint and began chasing them up the alley.

As they got further away from the device, their hearing began to come back, and Calvin shouted, "MTM! Teleport!"

MTM tried a few times, but it soon became clear that their molecules were not going to be rearranged anytime soon. "There's some sort of counter-frequency jamming my extra features!" he replied. "Seems we're stuck hoofing it for the time being."

"Wonderful," Hobbes sighed between gasps for breath. "I take it that means we can't defend ourselves either."

"Pretty much."

Calvin and Hobbes ran as fast as they could up the street. Thankfully, there was no one in the way, but unthankfully, they had no idea where they were going in this strange city.

Plus, with all the noise they were making, they were constantly being accosted by new monsters. Some vampires came swooping down over them, baring their fangs and hissing menacingly. Some large skulking scaly creatures came stumbling out of another alley and reached for them with guttural growls. A herd of gargoyles came bounding down from a large church and bounded over and around them with amazing leaps.

Calvin and Hobbes ran around the city in a blind panic. With the MTM's internal GPS screwed up, they had no way of knowing how to find safety.

Then, another band of werewolves appeared in front of them. They changed direction and tried running up the road, but they were halted by some skulking reptilian creatures. They looked back and saw the original werewolves following them, and there were some gargoyles coming up the other way. From above, the vampires were circling them like vultures.

After taking a moment to size up the situation, Calvin cleared his throat. "Well, we're screwed."

One of the vampires suddenly came swooping down towards them. Thankfully, Hobbes still had his superior reflexes, and he pushed Calvin out of the way. They ducked just in time, and the vampire flew through the air again for another try, but in the meantime, the MTM slid out of Calvin's hands and went skidding across the ground into a dark alley, right in the direction of the gargoyles.

The gargoyles simply stepped over the CD player and continued to snarl and snap their mouths at Calvin.

The two friends realized they were trapped from every conceivable direction, and they also realized this was in all likelihood, the end.

"Well…," Calvin said slowly. "Any regrets?"

"Only that I didn't have garlic for lunch and carry my stake with me," Hobbes replied.

They were just about to brace themselves when they heard two very loud blasts coming from an alley, and to their surprise, the vampires came thudding down on the ground in front of them, dead.

All the other creatures froze at the sight, and they turned to find a familiar sight.

It was Jackal, who was holding a shotgun, which still had smoke pouring from the mouth. He grinned when he saw Calvin and Hobbes.

"Need a hand?" he asked amiably.

Calvin shakily found his voice. "… Yes, please."

Smirking, Jackal pulled out another gun. "Then duck."

Calvin and Hobbes dropped to the ground, covering their ears and eyes as Jackal opened fire on the various creatures on the street. They heard various thuds all around them as various creatures met their various premature ends. It was more than a little sickening, but they did their best to focus on other things.

Jackal, meanwhile, just whistled merrily as he opened fire on all the creatures. As he mowed down the gargoyles, he caught sight of a familiar silver-and-red discus on the ground, and he realized it was the MTM. Casually firing with one hand, he picked him up and observed it while holding off the monsters.

"I don't suppose you can help me speed this up, do you?" he asked.

"We might. We're far away enough from the jamming frequency."

"So… is there a button I push?"

"Press the 'Play' button."

Taking a moment to skim the various buttons, he saw the appropriate one and placed his thumb on it. He withdrew his gun and held up the MTM, pressing the button, and in an instant, a powerful laser beam erupted out of the device and rebounded off the remaining creatures like a pinball, sending them all into a catatonic state and hurling them to the ground.

Jackal stared at their defeated forms in amazement before laughing uproariously. "Oh, that was _beautiful_! Excellent!"

With the noise having finally stopped, Calvin and Hobbes dared to look around, and when they did, they made a point of looking directly at Jackal instead of all the dead bodies around them.

Jackal swaggered over to them, tossing the MTM back to Calvin. "Well, _that_ was different! Boy, you guys really know how to weaponize!"

Calvin swallowed, shouldering back on his devil-may-care attitude. "Y-yeah," he stammered. "Well, we try."

Hobbes was a bit more open about his feelings. "Er, not that I don't appreciate a bit of carnage now and then, but can we possibly go somewhere with less… corpses?"

"Come on, I'll take you guys back to the tower," Jackal replied. "Right this way."

They turned and made their way back through the town.

* * *

Imposter looked over the various blueprints that Socrates had provided him with, staring amazement at the drawings and diagrams upon them.

"You really did all this?" he asked.

"You bet!" Socrates replied cheerfully. "The water balloon catapult, the electric eels in the toaster, the cell phones migrating south, and even the toilet speaking Portuguese! And that was just last week! I've got a whole plethora of ideas we can play on all the beasties out there in the world tonight!"

Imposter looked over another set of blueprints curiously. "… You had two people fight to the death using _slinkies_?"

"Oh, man… _That_ was a classic…"

Andy, Sherman and Puppeteer were observing all this from the window.

"Oh goodie, Crateso has a new friend," Sherman sighed.

"Is his influence corruptive?" Puppeteer asked.

"In every sense of the word," Andy said with a nod.

"Hmmm… Might actually be beneficial in the long run…"

"Just make sure he doesn't learn how to prank his _friends_."

Doctor just sat in his easy chair with a book, glaring at them all from behind it.

Dr Brainstorm and Jack, meanwhile, were just hanging out in the back of the room. Jack was drinking a mug of warm tea, seeing as how there were no soft drinks in this universe, and lemonade seemed to be in short supply. Dr Brainstorm was going through some of the books on the bookcase, hoping to learn whatever he could about this universe.

The main door opened, and in walked Calvin, Hobbes and Jackal.

Doctor regarded them from his chair. "I see they needed some help after all," he said knowingly.

"Oh, they got set up by a couple of ne'er-do-wells," Jackal replied breezily. "Nothing serious."

"Who might that have been?" Andy asked.

"Couple of guys apparently named 'Shade' and 'Shack'," Hobbes replied.

Dr Brainstorm and Jack looked up. "Oh, no…," Jack groaned. "Not them again…"

Calvin looked over at them inquisitively. "Friends of yours, Frank?" he asked.

" _Dr Brainstorm_! And hardly!"

"They said they were scientists. You continue to _claim_ to be a scientist…"

"Oh, please! Those losers are just weirdos we met here earlier today! Well… today for us. A few days ago in _this_ world…"

"Well, who is he and what does he want?"

"No idea who he is, except that he's a complete weirdo in a bird mask."

"Does he want to rule the world?"

"Don't think so. Seemed more interested in finding a more exciting universe to live in."

"A new universe to live in?" Hobbes asked. "What for?"

Dr Brainstorm shrugged. "Sounded bored to me."

Sherman contemplated that. "Could be that he's some genius determined to escape the tedium of our reality. Great intellects tend to wish they lived in a more stimulating environment."

Puppeteer rolled his eyes. "Well, if that's the case, he's found it. Never a dull moment around here."

Hobbes cleared his throat. "Of course, that then begs the question – why doesn't he just live here? Why's he causing trouble for _us_?"

Calvin thought about that for a few moments. "Hmmm… Sounds like we need to track him down and find out what his motives are."

"How do we do that?" Socrates asked. "These guys sound like they'd be hard to find."

"Not to mention we know next to nothing about this place," Andy threw in. "We'd never know where to start."

Calvin scratched his chin before looking over at Jackal, Doctor, Imposter and Puppeteer curiously. "I don't suppose you guys would be interested in helping us out."

Jackal opened his mouth, but Doctor immediately cut in. "No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean, 'no'! We're no charity! You either pay us, or we don't do anything! Simple as that!"

"Superheroes who charge," muttered Socrates disdainfully.

"You don't have anything to offer us," Doctor continued.

Andy reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "Gum?"

Imposter reached forward, but Doctor slapped his hand away.

"You'll have to do better than that."

"Come on, Doc," Jackal sighed, nudging his coworker on the shoulder. "These Shade and Shack characters might be a danger to our world as well as theirs."

"So are all the other monsters we fight, and you don't see us killing any of _them_ for free!"

Calvin scratched his head. "Well… how about those star crystals? Would those work?"

Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You have star crystals?"

"No, but we could get some!"

"That sounds good to me," Jackal said.

"Show us the crystals first, and then we'll consider it," Doctor said firmly.

Calvin held up the MTM. "Er… I don't suppose you could teleport some crystals to us?"

MTM at first only responded with a weird grinding noise that caused everyone to jump.

"Nasty cough you've got there," Sherman said.

MTM electronically cleared his throat and tried again. "Sorry, I was trying to say, 'no, I'm afraid I can't right now'."

"Why not?" Hobbes asked.

"We've been in this universe too long. I'm cut off from my usual power source, and now my battery source is running out. As a result, most of my extra features have been rendered unusable."

"What exactly _is_ your regular power source?" Andy asked.

"The raw power of the universe itself."

"… For real?"

"I had to upgrade him when Mom stopped buying apple juice," Calvin explained.

"It's a bit like when you try to use a Region 1 DVD in a Region 2 DVD player," MTM elaborated. "I'm just not compatible."

"Well!" Doctor said. "Looks like you kids are on your own."

"We can still go and _find_ star crystals on our own, right?" Andy said, trying to keep their spirits up. "It's not like we can't walk outside and look for them."

Calvin glared at Doctor with naked contempt. "How do we know you guys will help us once we _give you_ the star crystals?"

"Oh, we will! Not to worry!" Imposter said brightly. "Once payment is confirmed, then it becomes a business deal, and we always work together on business!"

Calvin was a bit reassured by the friendlier syndicate member, so he nodded in acceptance. "Fine. We'll find the star crystals. _But_ – we aren't paying until you've helped us. Agreed?"

Doctor considered for a few moments before he got up from his char and extended his hand – which had thankfully had a change of surgical glove in the meantime. "Agreed."

They shook hands.

"Right," Hobbes said. "Now that we know each other's terms, shall we get started?"

"Right," Calvin said. "Gather round, gang. We've got plans to make."


	9. Anachronisms

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I COME FROM A LONG LINE OF EVIL MAD SCIENTISTS, AND WHEN THEY FIND OUT YOU SACRIFICED ME TO AN EVIL DEMON LORD..."

"Silence!" The cult member holding the sacrificial dagger shouted.

Sheila, still tied down to the alter, had been screeching and complaining for a solid minute, and several of the cult members were beginning to hold their ears underneath their cloaks as they attempted to continue chanting.

"Seriously, shut up!" Another cult member groaned. "We've sacrificed royalty that's complained less than you!"

"FREE SPEECH WILL NEVER BE FETTERED!"

"Would Lord Bagor still come if we killed her now?" Another cult member asked.

"No! He wouldn't!" Shouted the dagger wielding member, indignantly. "Continue the ritual! The time is shortly upon us!"

A short distance away Jacqueline, Jessica and Chris watched this all unfold from the relative safety of a bush.

" _That's_ your friend?" Jessica asked, staring at Sheila in slight discomfort.

"Yeah, she doesn't get very many of them, so I do what I can." Jacqueline replied.

"What's with her hair?" Chris asked.

"Genetics, I can only presume... or hope..."

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Jessica asked.

"We have to find some way to distract them." Jacqueline said rubbing her chin in thought. "I might be able to configure some of my sound systems to imitate a loud crash or explosion in a specific area to draw some of them out, so we can..."

"I can do it!" Chris suddenly interjected.

Jacqueline paused, and stared at him for a moment.

"I mean yeah, that's... technically an option." She nodded.

"Chris, you can't!" Jessica gasped, gripping Chris' shoulder in the most melodramatic manner possible.

Chris turned to Jacqueline.

"You say this Sheila is our best chance of getting out of here?" He asked, bravely.

Jacqueline's eyes went blank. "Sure." She replied, blandly.

"Then I have to do this, Jessica," Chris went on, turning to his girlfriend. "It's the only way to keep you safe!"

"THAT KNIFE HAS BLOOD ON IT STILL! YOU HAVEN'T EVEN CLEANED IT SINCE YOUR LAST SACRIFICE YOU UNSANITARY ANIMALS!"

"But I don't want to risk losing you, again!" Jessica whimpered, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"It'll be alright. I promise I'll be back!" Chris said, heroically.

"I HAVE AN ITCH ON MY NOSE! I DEMAND ONE OF YOU SCRATCH IT FOR ME! HEY, DON'T YOU IGNORE ME!"

"You better make sure of that!" Jessica said as the two immediately locked in a passionate kiss.

Jacqueline patiently waited for them to finish. When they finally parted, Chris turned to her.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked.

"I dunno. Just run out there and get their attention." Jacqueline shrugged. "Quick question, how long have you guys been dating?"

"A week and a half." Jessica said, confidently.

Jacqueline simply nodded, and turned back to the ritual.

Summoning all the bravery he could muster, Chris stood up from the bushes as Jacqueline and Jessica snuck away, and began walking forward.

"Hey!" He shouted, picking a rock up and tossing it at one of the cloaked figures.

"OW!" The figure yelped, as the rock pegged him right in the head.

Rubbing his head in considerable pain, he turned and cast a glare onto the teenager. The chanting slowed and quieted as others turned around as well, while Chris stood there, not really knowing what to do next.

In one swift motion, the figure holding the knife, drove it deep into the altar and began approaching the teenager, as did several others.

"That's bad for the blade." Sheila commented.

As Chris began backing up, another voice cried out from the darkness in the opposite direction, causing more people to look around.

"RUN, CHRIS!" Jessica had jumped out of the bushes as well and threw a broken branch at another one of the figures, before retreating back into the darkness of the woods.

The leader pointed in the direction she ran off in, and several cult members sprinted off into the darkness after her. At the same time, Chris bolted off in the other direction, giving chase, as several more people chased after him.

As the dust settled, Sheila was left looking around her restricted field of vision, still tied to the altar, and wondering where everyone went.

"OH SO YOU'RE ALL GONNA JUST LEAVE ME NOW! YOU GUYS REALLY SUCK AT THIS!" She screamed.

She grumbled to herself for a moment, before the shadow of another figure began looming over her. She looked up to see Jacqueline tugging at the ropes that tied her arms down.

"Jacqueline! It's about time you got here!" Sheila shouted. "Do you have any idea how much my nose itches at this point?!"

"I'm sure you'll survive." Jacqueline sighed, releasing the knots, and helping Sheila stand up.

Sheila stretched a kink out of her back, and glared off into the darkness where the cult members had disappeared.

"Those punks! I am totally gonna get revenge on them after I've killed their sacrifices!" She growled, scratching her nose.

The two raced off back towards the bushes, where Sheila took out a pair of binoculars, and began scanning the area. "Where are they, anyway?"

"Distracting them still, I presume." Jacqueline shrugged. "I told them to meet back here after a minute, but they still might be trying to give those people the slip."

"Hmmm... yes..." Sheila said, still not removing her face from the binoculars.

Jacqueline stared at her. "Can you actually see anything right now?"

"Jacqueline, it is 10:30 at night, of course I can't see anything!" Sheila shouted, still not looking away.

At that moment, the sound of muffled cries were heard, and Sheila whipped around, still aiming her binoculars in attempt to see something. Jacqueline however, had already presumed the result. She sighed as she watched the hooded figures returning with Chris and Jessica in tow, tied up and this time gagged, as they placed them once again on the alter and began tying them down. Jessica was crying helplessly while Chris continued to struggle in vain against the ropes.

"What! What's happening?!" Sheila hissed. "Talk to me, Jacqueline! What's the status of our mission?!"

"Put the binoculars away, Sheila." Jacqueline said, simply.

Finally doing so, Sheila peered forward and examined the scene before her, as the chanting resumed. Her reaction was pretty predictable.

"OH WHAT THE-!"

* * *

"Alright, gang, I've managed to compile a list of MTM's features that we can still use." Calvin said, walking up to Hobbes, Andy and Sherman, who were sitting on the floor, discussing how they would be acquiring the star crystals.

Off in one corner, Socrates and Imposter were happily talking to each other about Imposter's combat skills, Puppeteer was sitting at the window, staring out of it absent mindedly, Doctor was in his chair reading a book, Jackal was taking a nap on top of his rather unkempt mattress and Dr Brainstorm had lead Jack out of the apartment, in search of an uninhabited room in the building to set up his portable lab that Jack didn't bother to remind him had been left in the previous abandoned building they had set up shop.

"Do any of these features help us get star crystals?" Sherman asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that depends." Calvin said, looking down at the CD player. "You think we can use the Pizza Hut app to help?"

"Wow, for shame," Hobbes said, shaking his head. "No Domino's."

"Well I might be able to get that," Calvin said, opening the CD player up. "I think the app store is still working."

"How are you even still getting internet?" Sherman demanded.

"No idea." Calvin shrugged. "Don't tell Socrates though, or all I'll hear about is how he wants to update his blog..."

"To cut to the chase," MTM sighed, his voice now becoming more apparently faded and fuzzy. "I can use my long range scanner, my AI module is, for the time being, unaffected, and I might have enough energy for one long range teleport... maybe."

"Maybe?" Hobbes asked.

"Do you have any belongings on your person you don't mind losing?" MTM asked. "Like... arms?"

Hobbes' eyes went blank. "Well, I officially never want to use the teleporter ever again."

"Oh come off it, it's like a 0.1 percent chance... or something like that." MTM yawned.

"Whatever!" Sherman grumbled. "Can you use the scanner to give us a location of some star crystals?"

"Probably." MTM said. "How many are we talking here? Cuz there are no doubt quite a lot in this universe."

Calvin rubbed his chin in thought. It was points like this that he wished he had a goatee to stroke, to make himself look more thoughtful.

"I dunno, a decent amount." He shrugged. "We need to make sure these Victorian emo businessmen help us out, so just give us the largest stash on the island."

"Mmkay." MTM yawned. "There's no guarantee it'll be close, though. This island is huge."

"It's a risk we're gonna have to take." Andy sighed. "Knowing our luck, we're probably gonna have to go as far as humanly possible, so we might as well get the exact number, now."

"Alright, good then." Calvin said. "MTM, commence scanner!"

"Uh huh." MTM said. "Give me a second on that. Things are still a bit slow."

There was a pause as the CD player began whirring a little bit, before the iconic word came, albeit a bit delayed and choppy at first.

"Pr-pr-processing... Proces...ess...ess..essing... _Processing_ , there we go..."

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances.

"Gotchya. Alright, I found a rather large cache that don't seem to be under any protection or otherwise personal ownership." MTM said, as the whirring finally stopped.

"Good, good... where?" Sherman asked.

"Literally on the other side of the island." MTM said, simply.

"Knew it." Andy grumbled.

"It's on the north end of the island..." The machine continued. "About 27 miles away from our current location I'd say. Further scans seem to indicate a lot higher end looking houses and buildings. This might be where the rich people are."

"Makes sense..." Calvin sighed, as he looked towards the window, Puppeteer was stationed at. By this point, the first rays of sunlight were beginning to shine through the glass, and the apparent red star that had been hanging in the night sky was notably missing. "We should head out as soon as possible. Where's Frank?"

Hobbes, Andy and Sherman paused as they looked around the room, before shrugging, uninterestedly. Calvin sighed.

"Okay, I guess he's not coming." He said, putting the MTM in his pocket. "Somebody grab Socrates so I don't have to talk to him, and I'll be waiting outside."

And with that, Calvin turned and started for the door, saluting Jackal as he left, and Jackal in his half-awake state halfheartedly waved him off.

Hobbes, Andy and Sherman looked over at Socrates. He and Imposter were very deep in conversation, and Socrates seemed way too interested in what Imposter was saying for the comfort of everyone around them.

"Who wants to go interrupt that hype fest?" Sherman asked, blandly. Both he and Andy turned and stared at Hobbes expectantly.

Hobbes sighed, and stood up.

"Socrates..." He started, slowly.

Socrates' head bolted up and greeted Hobbes with an exceptionally large grin.

"Hobbo, ol' boy! I can't wait to fill you in on all the stories Posety's been telling me about the syndicate's early days!"

Imposter shrugged. "I really don't know why he's so excited about it." He said.

"Because you're giving him ideas." Hobbes sighed, shaking his head.

"Boy oh boy, you would not believe the traps they used to catch this slime thing this one time!" Socrates grinned. "It was infected with a... something or other..."

"Neurotoxin..." Imposter pointed out.

"Right, whatever, and they needed to catch it or people would get sick... or something... so they used this really awesome gothic trap thing that used a blood gem to power this special crossbow thing that shot bags of water and flour mixed together that would disrupt the slime's... something and uh..." Socrates slowed down as he noticed Hobbes' tired expression. "And I am totally never gonna copy that design in any shape, way or fashion." He finished, trying to maintain the most expressionless look he could.

Socrates' nodded confidently as Hobbes heaved a deep sigh.

He wasn't looking forward to seeing the new prank blueprints when they got home.

As the day progressed, Calvin, Hobbes and the gang set out on their journey across the city. The hours passed without incident, despite a few stares from the unfamiliar clothing the group wore as well as the two bipedal tigers following, as Calvin and Andy discussed matters, Sherman napped in Andy's pocket, while Hobbes and Socrates remained mostly quiet with Hobbes deep in admiration of the town and its activities and Socrates busy at work scribbling on a notepad before he forgot all the things that were no doubt flying through his mind.

Finally, they reached their destination, and that became more apparent the closer they got, as the buildings began looking more refined and larger, and the people walking by began appearing more upkept and dressed in more expensive looking clothes.

As they came to a town square of sorts with a Victorian fountain in the middle of a busy horse drawn carriage street, Calvin pulled the MTM out of his pocket.

"Alright, MTM, how much further?" He sighed. The group had been walking for the better portion of the day, and by this point, they were all showing signs of extreme fatigue, especially after not getting very little sleep the night prior. All of them except Socrates, of course, who remained energetic and happy as ever.

"Just about there." MTM said. "The crystals appear to be in a building just little bit to the west from here. About two blocks in that direction."

Calvin nodded, and started walking off when something suddenly caught his eye.

Confused, he stopped and did a double take, wondering if it had been what he thought it was. Hobbes, Andy, and Sherman as well stopped, and Socrates ran into Hobbes, having not been paying attention while he walked.

"Oof!" He grunted. "Oh, are we here already?"

Hobbes, Andy and Sherman looked down at Calvin in confusion, then followed his gaze upward towards a billboard that towered over the other houses. Their expressions then matched Calvin's of confusion, as did Socrates' when he saw the billboard as well.

"What the..." The red tailed tiger mused, his brow furrowing.

Sitting right in the middle of the city, in front of another gargoyle ridden Victorian tower, was a billboard advertising Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.

It was completely modern looking and extremely out of place, considering the architecture that surrounded them. The poster showed the box in all its glory, as well as a very hyper modern looking child eating from a very modern looking bowl. In the bottom left corner, it even listed the headquarters of the business that made the cereal, which was located in Texas.

"Why is _that_ here?" Andy wondered.

"We're an entire universe away, and we still can't get away from that cereal." Hobbes sighed.

"That's... really off." Calvin commented, scratching his head.

"I guess... this universe has that cereal..." Socrates shrugged.

"Yeah, but..." Calvin stopped and continued examining the billboard. "It just... It looks like it's from our universe..."

"It really does..." Sherman commented. "The kid is wearing modern clothes and I'm pretty sure I've even seen that same billboard during the drive between Andy's house and the University..."

Calvin continued staring at it for a moment, before shrugging and turning around.

"Well, it's not our problem right now." He concluded. "We need to get those star crystals, quick."

He started off in the direction he was heading in to begin with. The rest of the gang examined the sign for another moment, before following as well. For a moment, they walked in silence.

"I want Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs now." Calvin grumbled grumpily, kicking a rock across the path as he walked. Everyone rolled their eyes.

The sidewalks were smoother and well made here, and the group noticed an abundance of street lamps that clearly had star crystals fused into them, keeping a constant beam of light on the pathways in front of them. Soon, a certain storefront caught their eyes.

In gigantic bold letters, the words "TERRY'S MYSTERIOUS PLAYHOUSE" were written on a board showcasing a very ominous looking wooden door with a steel dragon for a handle. The building in question also had no windows of sorts. Everyone stared at it for a long moment.

"People definitely don't die in there." Socrates nodded.

Calvin heaved a sigh. "The crystals are in there, aren't they?"

"Ah-yup." MTM replied.

"Looks like a nice place." Andy commented. "I'll bet Sauron runs it."

Calvin sighed as he approached the door. It was then he saw the other sign hanging from the top of it.

This one, more innocently read, "CLOSED, STAY SAFE"

"Great." He grumbled, crossing his arms. "What is this place, anyway, MTM?"

"Appears to be a shop that sells star crystals and blood gems." MTM commented. "Maybe other knickknacks and weapons to survive out in the night in, but it looks to be for people that like running about in the dark."

"Hmm," Sherman considered, examining the door and surrounding concrete. "Maybe we could break in?"

"Do you see any particularly obvious entrances besides this one?" Calvin asked, looking down at the MTM.

"Not really." The machine said. "This place sells some expensive stuff, so I predict they lock up pretty good before the night."

"Drat... What are we gonna do now?"

Hobbes looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, and the streets were slowly beginning to become less packed and more abandoned. "Perhaps we should set up camp somewhere. Preferably _before_ the onslaught resumes."

"Probably yeah." Calvin nodded.

At that moment, a tall skinny man in a dress coat walked by.

"Hey, can I stay at your house tonight?" Calvin asked, casually.

"No." The man said, simply not even looking up.

Calvin watched him go. "Well I'm out of ideas." He shrugged.

Socrates pointed across the street. "We can ask him!"

Everyone turned to see a rather larger man, standing half way in an alley, wearing a black trench coat. He had a hideous burn scar that covered half his face, and his left arm was twitching slightly while he muttered to himself and rubbed dirt out of his hair. Upon noticing Socrates pointing at him, he turned a haunting stare onto the group, and simply watched them.

Socrates waved.

He didn't return the sentiment.

Calvin smacked his lips together. "Right. Well, I think we should go in _this_ direction." He said, pointing in the opposite way.

"I concur." Hobbes agreed, heading off immediately.

Calvin, Andy and Sherman quickly followed, while Socrates shrugged and did so as well.

The man simply continued watching them as they disappeared behind the building.

Night fell very quickly over the Victorian city of Lunanix. As Calvin and the group began noticing shifts of movement in the ever increasing darkness, they chose to stay close to the light of the streetlamps, which very much seemed to help.

As they continued to walk, however, the chilling sound of a wolf howling in the distance reached their ears.

"Alright." Andy said, softly. "I think our best bet right now is just set up camp in front of these lamp posts."

"Uugh…," Sherman said, reluctantly. "I just don't like how 'out in the open' it is..."

Calvin looked down one of the unlit alleyways, and caught a very small bit of movement, as if something that had been previously watching them, quickly hid upon noticing the boy's inspection.

"Yeeeeah... The 'not in the open' bits aren't looking much better." He nodded.

Hobbes scooted himself up against one of the lamp posts and began shivering.

"We should probably have someone stay awake and keep watch throughout the night." Sherman suggested. "We'll trade off in shifts."

"Implying sleep will be happening tonight, Shermie." Socrates said, shaking his head.

"Well, I mean if we don't get sleep, we're not gonna be able to fight this Shade and Shack duo." Andy pointed out. "And I think we're gonna want to be able to fight them..."

"Well who should take the first shift?" Calvin inquired.

All eyes went to Hobbes.

Hobbes stared at them, still hugging the lamp post and shivering. "Why do _I_ have to do it?"

"Because you have the best senses out of all of us, and you'll notice danger way before anybody else does." Sherman replied.

Hobbes indignantly pointed at Socrates, who looked down at himself.

"I forget he's a tiger, half the time." Sherman said, simply.

"Hey!" Socrates said, crossing his arms.

"How?! We literally looked exactly alike apart from our tails!" Hobbes groaned.

"I dunno, I like to think I have a more defined jawline than you," Socrates said, running his fingers along his chin.

"It doesn't matter!" Calvin groaned. "Look, Hobbes, if you just take the first hour of watch, I'll take over for you for the next two hours after! And I'll even buy you a can of tuna when we get home."

Hobbes sighed. "Fine..."

"Cool!" Socrates grinned. With that, he collapsed into an absolute heap on the ground, and from how it appeared, almost instantly fell asleep, in perhaps one of the most uncomfortable looking positions you can imagine.

Everyone stared at him for a long moment.

"This is why I maintain that cats are actually a liquid." Calvin sighed.

Everyone else rolled their eyes, and began settling down, maintaining themselves as much in the light as they possibly could.

Calvin laid his head onto the cold concrete.

For a long while, he wondered if he was going to be able to fall asleep. The sounds surrounding them were growing ever louder, and he was almost certain there were monsters stalking them from right outside the light of the lamp post. Not to mention, the sidewalk was ridiculously uncomfortable. However, as the minutes ticked on, and Calvin became more aware of just how tired he was, he could feel himself slowly starting to drift off.

He knew he had to get some sleep for the action that was undoubtedly ahead of them. He didn't know what Shade and Shack were planning, but something about how they behaved did not sit right with him.

They were planning something big... and he was going to stop them.


	10. Falling Stars

As the night wore on, Hobbes leaned against the lamp post, constantly looking around for any incoming monsters. So far, there were none to speak of, but he was certain they were being watched by _something_. There was a presence that he just couldn't shake.

The others snored lightly around him, gone to the world, and he checked his watch. How long was he supposed to stay up again?

Then he felt a light tap on his head. It was so imperceptible that he almost didn't notice it. Then he felt a few more. Then he felt several more. He saw several points coming down from the sky, hitting the cobblestones in front of him. The confusion began to give way to understanding.

 _Oh great,_ he thought. _It's raining. And now my fur's going to get all poofy._

He tried stand directly under the light for shelter, but there wasn't much to be given. Crossing his arms and hugging himself tightly, he braced himself for a long night.

Then he noticed something else. With all this rain, he wasn't getting wet. He was still perfectly dry. There were also no splats of water on the ground. In fact, now that he was paying attention, he could see that it wasn't rain at all. They were tiny little reflective rocks. He held his paw out to catch some, and upon closer inspection, he saw what they really were – crystals!

These were star crystals!

His excitement grew, and he got down and shook Calvin awake. "Wake up! Wake up! You guys have to see this!"

Calvin jolted awake and looked around. "Wha - ?! Where're my adoring fans?! I… Oh, right… Hobbes, what the heck do you want?"

The others stirred as well, blinking blearily. "Please tell me we were asleep for a _few_ hours," Sherman grumbled.

"It's star crystals!" Hobbes said urgently. "Look around!"

They all stirred and took in the view. Glistening in the street lights, the crystals were raining down like diamonds, tinkling on the ground around them. Calvin held out a hand and looked at the tens of tiny little crystals gathering in his palm.

"They are…," he whispered. "We've got star crystals!"

"Interesting weather patterns," Socrates murmured, shielding his eyes as he looked up.

Andy knelt down and looked at a small pile on the sidewalk. "Kind of small, aren't they?"

"Yeah, how do we know what each size is worth?" Sherman pointed out.

"Just gather as many as you can," Calvin said, pulling out the MTM. "MTM – start hoovering!"

"Check," MTM replied. He opened a small door on his side, activating his hypercube, and a sound similar to a vacuum cleaner started, and the CD player began to draw the crystals inside.

Calvin passed him to Hobbes. "Here, keep it up since you don't have pockets. Andy – with me."

Hobbes used the CD-player-turned-dust-buster to suck up more crystals while Calvin and Andy grabbed fistfuls and stuffed them in their pockets. Socrates was catching as many as he could and bringing them over.

Sherman was scooping up little piles of them so they'd be easier to pick up, but he couldn't help but notice something slightly worrying. At first, all the crystals had been small enough to be mistaken for rain. Now they were definitely getting better, and they were starting to hurt a bit worse whenever they hit him on the head.

"Er, chaps?" he called out over the increasingly loud staccato of raining crystals. "Is it just me or are these things getting larger?"

Socrates took a few and examined them side-by-side. With a shrug, he replied, "Yeah, I guess a little. Is that a big deal?"

"It might be if they _continue_ to get bigger…"

"Just gather as many as you can before that becomes a problem," Calvin replied, grabbing some of the bigger ones.

They continued scooping the crystals, but the bigger they got, the more pain they all felt. They slowly grew to the size of grapes, which seriously began to hurt them. Sherman had to scurry for Andy's pocket to protect his delicate rodent skull.

It was when the diamonds were about the size of kiwis that they began to feel undeniable pain. They had nothing to shield themselves with but their arms, which meant that they couldn't carry any crystals anymore.

Calvin had to shout over the roar of the hailing crystals hitting the ground. "MTM? I don't suppose you could help us out here?"

"Well, my force field is weak, but it might be enough to shield us all," the CD player replied.

"I'll go with that!" Hobbes replied, holding the CD player out.

MTM sputtered a couple of times, but he managed to extend the force field out and above them. To their disappointment, instead of encapsulating them, it was only a curved smooth surface above them like an umbrella, and it wasn't particularly wide either.

"Oh great!" Socrates complained. "What are we supposed to do with this?"

"Well, for openers, you could _stand under it_ ," MTM replied.

Calvin, Hobbes and Andy all immediately got under the force field, with barely enough room. Sighing theatrically, Socrates joined them, cramming himself inside. The crystals were bouncing off the force field, sliding harmlessly to the ground.

"Oooh," Andy moaned. "Soooo many bruises…"

The raining crystals were continuing to grow – by now the size of baseballs. They were hitting the ground at a tremendous rate, and rather worryingly, the force field was beginning to waver.

"What now?" Hobbes asked over the roar.

"We need to find a place to hide!" Calvin yelled back. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

"But what about the monsters?" Andy asked. "They'll be able to get us if we leave the light!"

"I know! We'll just have to take our chances!"

With the force field still wavering and shifting under the weight of the raining crystals, they did their best to run. The only way they could guarantee they all stayed under the small force field was by joining hands and hanging onto each other tightly so they all ran at the same speed, which was more than a little awkward. A few stray crystals came down bopped anyone who accidentally stepped out from under.

Then they heard a loud roar, and they were startled by the sight of a werewolf bearing down on them. It howled and snarled, somehow not effected by the raining crystals and dodging the large ones with ease.

"Oh crud," Andy moaned. "Now what?"

"Well…," Calvin sighed, digging into his pockets, "we can always try this." He took a handful of tiny crystals, and just as the werewolf was about to snare them, he threw them into the creature's eyes. It howled in pain and staggered back, rubbing at its face.

"Got a result, I'll give you that," Hobbes said, leading the way.

The werewolf began howling in agony, and this prompted several eyes to glow in the dark around them. They realized that more werewolves were starting to emerge, answering his call.

"Great," Socrates grumbled. "Now what?"

"I'm thinking this group scrambling isn't working," Andy said. "How about we split off from each other in blind panic?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Calvin.

"Doesn't sound _remotely_ like a plan," said Hobbes, "but I'm in."

They looked and saw the werewolves closing in on them. Realizing this was their only chance, they silently agreed it was time to do it, and they split up. Calvin and Hobbes went to the left while Andy and Socrates – along with Sherman – went to the right. They covered their heads against the raining crystals and hurried for their lives, the pack of werewolves growling and snarling behind them.

Calvin and Hobbes turned off into an alley that had a strong-looking gate on it. They slammed it shut, and then they used MTM to weld the lock shut. The creatures bayed and growled angrily outside while Calvin and Hobbes dove under a near a sturdy piece of plywood that had been stretched between the windowsills of two houses. They shivered there in that spot, tending to their bruises and relieved for the time being, and also hoping their friends were all right.

Andy and Socrates were running along the sidewalk up the street towards a house that looked pretty abandoned. They were just coming up to the walkway when they heard a growl from the left and saw a few more werewolves were closing in on them. Not knowing what else to do, Andy scooped most of the crystals he had gathered and flung them at the monsters. They yelped in pain, but instead of stopping, they started swiping randomly, forcing Andy and Socrates to bob and weave out of the way. They managed to get up the walkway towards the house, but the pack was still on them.

"Split up!" Andy shouted.

Socrates knew he was faster, so he hightailed it around the house and towards the back while Andy ran up the front steps and through the door, slamming it behind him and locking it. He backed away from the door, trying to get his breath back as he watched the door shudder and shake. A few werewolves appeared at the windows, but they were thankfully intact and locked.

Sherman peeked out from his pocket. "Very strong material," he remarked.

"They'd have to be to keep monsters out," Andy pointed out.

Nevertheless, they mutually agreed to start heading further into the house so as to discourage them from ever catching them.

* * *

It was another fifteen minutes before the rain stopped, allowing Calvin and Hobbes to move out from under their shelter. They gingerly stepped out into the open air and started looking around. There were a lot of star crystals of various sizes littering the alley.

"How many do you think we need to take back?" Calvin asked.

"Probably not _that_ many… I mean… if these things _rain down from the sky_ , just how valuable can they be?"

The answer to that question came in the form of the wooden gate at the end of the alley abruptly exploding off its hinges and landing on them.

"Hey! There's more down here!" a voice shouted.

Calvin and Hobbes peeked out from under the gate and saw a troop of people all dressed in Victorian-steampunk garb – lots of frock coats, thick goggles and boots – come running up the alley with huge heavy-looking satchels. They were scooping up the crystals as fast as they could.

Then, a few seconds later, a group of masked people came storming up the alley wielding pistols. "Hold it right there!" they shouted. "Put those down before we blast your kneecaps off!"

Some of the people gathering crystals pulled out weapons of their own. "Oh, no you don't! You darn syndicates keep swooping down and taking all the really good crystals! We bandits deserve our share! Let's see you try and take _these_!"

That was the cue for a massive shoot out to take place. Bullets flew between the two factions of syndicates and bandits.

None of them noticed the fallen wooden gate suddenly get up against the wall, clutched by two tiny hands on one side and two large furry paws on the other, and start walking sideways down the alley towards the other side, shielding the two friends behind it from the blasts.

Calvin and Hobbes made it to the other end of the alley and saw similar activity taking place. Multiple syndicates and bandits were swiping up all the crystals and shooting at each other. They watched all this in amazement.

"They're like extra-violent street sweepers!" Calvin complained. "How're we going to get more crystals now?!"

They were interrupted by a loud primal screech that came from above. Everyone stopped fighting to look up and see the source. To their horror, a group of gargoyles were descending from the sky – wings flapping, talons gleaming, fangs glistening, and their faces in twisted ugly hunger.

Immediately, the syndicates and bandits began to run, firing their pistols over their shoulders as they went. They began to disappear around the corners and up alleys, trying to find shelter.

Calvin and Hobbes briefly considered diving back into the alley they'd just come from, but they remembered the gang fight and thought better of it. Instead, they tried to run up the sidewalk.

Hobbes was bringing up the rear, and being the taller of the two, he was easier to pick off. A gargoyle deduced this logic and swooped down, pouncing Hobbes, grabbing him and taking him up into the sky with its talons wrapped around his arms.

"Hey! HEY!" Hobbes shouted. "Get me down!"

Calvin looked up and saw his friend being carried away, horror sticking in his throat. "MTM! We need to do something!" he shouted. "Fire a laser!"

"I don't have enough power to summon a laser," MTM replied.

"Well, do _something_!"

"There's something I _can_ do, but you're not going to like it."

"Just do it!"

"Okay. Aim me at the gargoyle."

Calvin obeyed, and a second later, MTM was firing the star crystals he'd hoovered earlier and fired them like bullets from a machine gun at the gargoyle. The creature let out a shriek as several tiny pellets of crystal struck it, causing quite a lot of pain. This disoriented it enough to accidentally let go of its captive tiger.

Hobbes managed to reach out and grab a streetlight, grabbing onto it and sliding down it like a fireman's pole. He landed neatly on the sidewalk and rejoined Calvin and the MTM. "Thanks for the help!" he said. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

Calvin was just staring dumbly ahead, still holding the MTM in his firing position, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Hobbes waved a paw in front of his face. "You okay? What're you waiting for? We need to skedaddle!"

Calvin was still staring straight ahead. "… Those were our star crystals…," he said dumbly.

"Yeah, they were," MTM replied evenly. "And Hobbes is alive."

"Those… were the star crystals… we worked so hard to find…"

"Yeah, 'worked hard'. They literally rained down from the sky."

"You just _wasted_ all the star crystals we had to our name…!"

"And Hobbes is alive. That's all I'm saying."

Hobbes cleared his throat. "Guys, can we reschedule this debate? We gotta motor. Now!"

There was an ugly screech from above, and they saw the gargoyle was righting itself and turning around again.

Finally snapped out of his self-righteous fury, Calvin pocketed the MTM and joined Hobbes in making their way towards another alley. They dove inside, hoping to get out of sight before the creature saw them. They hid behind some trashcans and waited until the screeching and the wing-flapping became distant sounds, signifying that it was finally safe to emerge.

They sat there in silence, catching their breath until they heard a noise in the alley that made them jump. They looked ahead and saw a familiar face with a straw hat and arms full of food and supplies. He was whistling jauntily as he went, oblivious to the terror that had just transpired.

"Shack?!" Calvin asked, staring at him in wonder.

Shack froze where he stood, clearly startled by their presence. "Oh!" he said, sounding like he'd just met them at a party and wanted to escape. "Hi… guys… Er… not dead, huh?"

"No, as it happens," Hobbes growled, baring his fangs at the man. "Nice attempt, though."

Shack began backing away. "Er… I was just… bringing stuff… I mean… Shade said we'd be here for a while, so I was just gonna… well… BYE!" He turned around, dropped all his goods and ran up the alley.

Hobbes, however, was on him in a flash. He took five good bounds before pouncing him and slamming him to the pavement, holding the squirming man in place.

"Ow!" Shack wailed. "Get off of me! Get off! Get off! I can't breathe!"

Hobbes kept a firm grip as Calvin came up alongside. "What exactly are you boys planning?" the boy asked simply.

"You'll get nothing out of me!" Shack snapped. "I'm a _good_ assistant! I know how to look out for my boss!"

"I just _hate_ loyal lackeys," Hobbes sighed disparagingly. "Must be why we like Jack so much."

"Hey! Jack's _my_ friend! Back off him!" Shack snarled at them.

"Jackie and Shackie the Lackeys – this fall on NBC," MTM intoned.

Calvin sighed. "Where's Shade?" he asked the MTM

"Not far from here, according to my tracker. Unfortunately, the dimensional distorter in the area is making it hard to pinpoint him."

"I see. Well then, I think we're going to have to take this guy with us. He might be valuable as a hostage…"

"I don't like the word 'hostage'," Hobbes said awkwardly. "Sounds too much like what a bad guy would say…"

Shack glared up at him. "I can't believe I'm being held captive by a tiger. When this is all over, I'm going to stuff and mount you and put you in my taxidermy collection in my office!"

Hobbes blinked. "On second thought, 'hostage' is a pretty word…" He stood up and yanked Shack up with him. The man attempted to escape, but the tiger was stronger than he was and held him in place.

"Andy, Sherman and Socrates aren't far from here," MTM continued. "Let's find them before we make any huge decisions."

"Agreed," Calvin said. "Come on, boys."

Hobbes followed him, effortlessly dragging the scrawny Shack behind him.

* * *

Socrates was wandering the house aimlessly, not really sure where he was within it. It was a massive house – almost as big as his mansion back home. He looked around the overturned furniture and tried not to dwell on why it was overturned in the first place. He sauntered about the place, hoping to find Andy and Sherman and split.

Whistling "Tipperary", he noticed another room, but it was too dark to see anything properly, so he decided it wasn't likely for Andy to go in there. Way too creepy for any sane person. He was just turning to continue up the corridor when he heard a familiar voice from inside.

" _Socrates_ …?"

The red-tailed tiger froze, not sure what just happened or what to make of it. He looked back over his shoulder at the room. "Andy…?" he asked hopefully.

" _In here_ … _Socrates_ …"

Socrates gulped and looked inside the room. "Andy? Sherman? Are you guys in there?" He didn't want to enter unless it was absolutely necessary.

" _Help us_ … _They have us_ … _Help us_!"

Socrates realized he had to take a chance, so he stepped inside the room and fumbled along the wall for a light switch before remember there was no electricity in this world. Swallowing once more, he tried to speak.

"Uh, guys? It's kinda dark in here. Might help my odds of helping you if I could _see_ you."

" _Certainly_ … _We'll light a match_ …"

He heard the sound of a match being lit, and the room lit up a bit more.

It wasn't Andy and Sherman.

It was a group of the creatures with elk skulls, those same ones from earlier, and they were all glaring at him.

Socrates observed them for a moment before finding his voice. "And now ladies and gentlemen – the one hundred yard dash!"

He fled the room and ran for his life. He could hear the elk-creatures charging after him through the house. He fled through several rooms, but they were able to keep up with him, and he had to make sure he didn't get cornered anywhere, so he could run just _anywhere_. He sprinted up the stairs and down the next hallway, hoping for an escape somewhere.

He was just heading for another room when he finally found Andy and Sherman. They slammed into him, and they fell to the floor in a heap, opposite each other.

Andy moaned through the pain before realizing who he'd run into. "Socrates! There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

The reunion was interrupted by the shriek of the elk-creatures pelting towards them.

"Oh yay," Sherman groaned. "You brought friends."

"Quick! In here!" Socrates shouted, leading them to the nearest door.

They hustled inside and slammed it behind them, only to regret it immediately. The room was a foyer, and as far as they could see, there was no way out. Not even a window.

"Oh great!" Andy wailed. "Now what do we do?!"

Sherman sorted through the filing system of his brain until he found something somewhat helpful. "Wait a minute! Doctor said these creatures can't see us if we don't move. If we can just hold still until they leave, maybe we'll be safe."

"Fingers crossed," Andy said. "Worth a try."

"Curse my hyperactivity," Socrates grumbled. "This isn't going to be easy."

They could hear the monsters approaching, so they quickly ran to the opposite side of the wall and leaned against it to prop themselves up. They knew this could take a while. Sherman considered hiding in Andy's pocket, but he figured it'd be worse if he couldn't see anything, so he sat on his friend's shoulder.

The door burst open in a splintering of wood, and the creatures burst in. They looked around frantically, sniffing, snorting and all round looking like a bunch of freaks as they sought out their prey.

Right away, our heroes could tell the plan was working. The creatures were looking right past them, never locking eyes with them. They scurried around the room. They knew their prey had come into this room, but where had they gone? How had they gotten away?

Andy, Sherman and Socrates held absolutely still. It wasn't so bad they couldn't blink or twitch, but if they had any itches to scratch, they were done for. They watched nervously as the creatures explored the room, knocking over furniture and feeling around, trying to see where their prey had gone. They leaned against the wall and waited for the creatures to give up and leave.

To their horror, however, two of the creatures began to scale the walls like reptiles, moving along and feeling every nook and cranny. Realizing their lousy hiding place was bound to give them away, they were trapped, unable to escape. They bit their lips and rolled their eyes around, trying to keep an eye on where they went.

One focused on the ceiling and felt around, but it couldn't find them.

The other went along the far wall, and then started to travel around the next well, almost to them. Socrates, the tallest, knew that if it came within an inch of it him, they'd be done for

They could only wait. It was inevitable. The creature would find them, kill them and that would be that. They watched it silently, observing as it came closer and closer, sniffing madly, coming at them, ready to rip them apart at the first sight of them.

It was finally within three feet of Socrates. It sniffed around, snorting like a pig, making its way until it was three inches from him.

Socrates braced himself.

Then… the creature turned and headed further up the wall, away from him, looking towards the ceiling where the other one was. They seemed to confer for a few moments before they suddenly leapt from the walls and ceiling and landed with the rest of the group. They snapped angrily at each other, snarling and bitter over losing their prey, but there was nothing else for it. They would have to move on. They began to shuffle out of the room.

Andy, Sherman and Socrates allowed their muscles to relax.

Then Socrates sneezed and let out a big, "WHAAAA- _CHOO!_ "

All the creatures stopped and looked back to see the tiger wiping his nose.

"You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me!" Sherman yelled furiously.

"My bad," Socrates replied sheepishly.

The monsters howled and turned to attack, all set to devour them when they started to get struck by something behind them. Small things pelting the backs of their heads. They halted and ducked down, not sure what was happening.

It took a moment for Andy, Sherman and Socrates to work it out, but when the creatures ducked, they were surprised to see Calvin and Hobbes in the hallway, firing more crystals from the MTM like bullets.

"Come on!" Hobbes shouted over the noise.

Without missing a beat, Sherman dove into Andy's pocket, and Andy and Socrates ran around the group of cowering creatures and into the hallway, slamming the remains of the door, accidentally causing it to fall off entirely, and negating the purpose of slamming it.

Reunited, the group turned and ran down the hallway, stopping to grab Shack along the way. The strange man was tied up to the banister of the staircase like a dog outside a drugstore. Hobbes quickly undid the knot and dragged him along behind them. He thankfully fell into step behind them as they descended the stairs.

"Won't be long now before they get themselves sorted out," Andy said nervously.

"How do you even _know_ that?" Hobbes asked. "We're in a different _universe_!"

"It'd just be our luck."

They made it to the bottom and headed for the door, but already, they could hear the creatures following them.

"What's this guy doing here?" Socrates asked.

"This is Shack!" Calvin filled in. "Working with that Shade guy! We managed to capture him! We wanted to know what you guys thought of taking him back to the syndicate!"

"Gee, should we stop and think about it?" Sherman drawled from Andy's pocket.

The creatures growled and snarled behind them, putting out that idea right away.

"I'm in favor of taking him along," Andy yelped.

"Same!" said Socrates.

"Ditto," agreed Sherman.

They ran for the door, only to find it was jammed shut. They fought with the doorknob, but it was no good. It was stuck.

"Great! Just great!" Hobbes grumbled. "Not like the syndicate was going to help us anyway! We lost all our star crystals!"

"And you're all alive because of it. How many times?" MTM pointed out.

Andy cleared his throat and opened his backpack. "Er… actually…" He pulled out what appeared to be a football-sized star crystal. "Managed to nab this while we were wandering around the house."

"Think it's enough?" Sherman asked sarcastically.

The creatures were descending the stairs and headed straight for them.

"Well, we have something to live for!" Socrates declared. "Maybe we can escape now?"

"MTM?" Calvin asked. "Ideas?"

"Well, as a last resort, I could teleport, but it's probably going to render me useless, save for my AI and voice module."

"Same as usual, then," Hobbes sighed.

"Do it!" Calvin shouted.

"I don't suppose _I_ get a say in all this?" Shack asked.

" _SHUT UP!_ " they all shouted.

There was a flash of electricity, and the entire group vanished.

The creatures all collided with the door at full speed, ironically knocking it down.


	11. Interrogating the Taxidermist

Jacqueline watched silently as Sheila rummaged through her hypercrube, throwing inventions over her shoulder and grumbling to herself, angrily.

"You better hurry," Jacqueline suggested, looking back over to the ritual. "It looks like they're wrapping up."

Sheila grunted as she finally pulled out a faded pink gun, closely resembling her brother's servant ray, yet with significantly more noticeable wear and sparking parts.

"Try to sacrifice my victims will they?" She growled, aiming the gun at the group.

Jacqueline stared silently and braced herself for the worst.

"Slave Gun, I command you to incapacitate those freaky cult people!" She shouted, leaping out of the bushes.

Several cult members sighed and turned around again, pausing their ritual once again.

For a second, Sheila simply stood there, with the gun simply fizzing and not doing anything. A couple of the cult members exchanged glances, before making their way towards her.

Suddenly, the ray gun began humming loudly and the sparks began flying off of it with higher intensity.

Finally, the ray shot off and a bolt of red electricity flew out of the gun. Several people flinched as the bolt perfectly maneuvered its way around every hooded figure in its path, before it turned straight up, and shot into the sky.

Everyone watched silently, as the bolt disappeared into the clouds. The sound of thunder was heard, shortly after.

Everyone looked back down at Sheila, as it began lightly raining over the group.

Sheila's brow furrowed.

"That's new." She contemplated, looking down at the gun.

"Yeah, usually it just makes it cloudier." Jacqueline commented. "A few more adjustments and we'll be able to ruin any picnic we want."

Sheila glared at the robot, as the hooded figures began advancing towards her.

Sheila looked back and forth around her, before chucking the gun at the couple in front of her and diving back into the bushes.

At this, the cult members shouted in creepy and almost comical unison as they charged after her.

Chris and Jessica watched this all unfold.

"We're so lucky we have these people to save us..." Jessica said, between tears.

"I know, I wish they'd do it already." Chris sighed.

"Oh god!" Jessica gasped, as Jacqueline came walking up to free them once again.

"What is it?" The robot asked, as she began loosening the ropes.

"I just remembered the kid I was babysitting is still out there!" Jessica cried. "Oh god, what if they got him?!"

Jacqueline blinked a couple times.

"I... wouldn't worry about it to be honest." She said, finally. "Let's just focus on getting you out of here."

"But he's all by himself and these people don't seem like..."

"No seriously, I really wouldn't worry about it." Jacqueline reassured her. "Now come on, help me with his ropes."

As Chris, Jessica and Jacqueline all rushed back to the bushes to hide, Jacqueline lifted a small tab on her arm and spoke into it.

"Sheila? Sheila are you there?" She whispered. "I got them out."

There was a moment of silence, as static only was returned from the speaker on Jacqueline's arm. Finally, Sheila's familiar scream came out of it.

"DANG IT JACQUELINE I HAD THE PERFECT HIDING SPOT AND YOU GAVE ME AWAY! NO! GET OFF OF ME! I COMMAND YOU! NO! NO! N-"

And with that, the com went dead.

Jacqueline stared at it for a long moment before heaving a deep and tired sigh.

"This is getting old, quick." She murmured.

"Hey, I hate to be one to suggest this..." Chris started. "But maybe we should just leave! Those people will be distracted with her and..."

"I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that." Jacqueline said, glaring at Chris.

Chris quieted down.

Soon, Sheila's screaming came into earshot, as Jacqueline looked up and saw the cult returning.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Jessica asked.

"You two make a break for it." Jacqueline ordered. "I should be able to get Sheila out without any trouble. Just so long as you two aren't captured again, and we have to go through this whole thing a third time."

Chris and Jessica nodded, and started slowly making their way out of the bushes, before disappearing into the darkness.

Jacqueline watched as the cult tied the screaming Sheila to the altar.

"Good god, I like the crying teenagers better..." One of the cult members moaned.

"Well we don't really have a choice right now!" Another snapped. "We need to hurry! Our window will soon be closed!"

"I HOPE IT CLOSES ON YOUR STUPID HEADS!"

The cult ignored her and began chanting once again.

Jacqueline slowly darted from bush to bush, before she was as close as she could get without getting spotted. Then, she sighed and lowered her head. Numbers began flashing across her eyes, and she said in a deeper more electronic sounding voice, "Combat mode activated."

She held her finger up and pointed at the altar. The tip of her finger began glowing bright blue, and a high pitched whining sound began emitting from it.

Suddenly, the candles surrounding the altar erupted into flames, sparking a couple of the robes worn by the cult members and knocking them back in shock.

Jacqueline then leapt from the bushes her eyes now glowing blue and aimed her palm at the group least affected by the blast. Her palm began glowing a brilliant white before large force of sonic energy exploded from her hand, sending the robed figures flying backwards.

Another couple tried to come from behind and grab her, but she pivoted on her torso and spun around, sending another sonic blast into the flankers.

"OOF!" They both grunted, as they were shot backwards into the trees.

Several more attempted to charge her from different directions, only to be shot backwards by the sonic cannons placed in both of her palms, each blast rippling through the air like a jet as she pivoted back and forth, hitting each one in order from how close they were to her. Upon subduing each one, she stood up straight and stretched a kink out of her neck, and her eyes returned to their normal look as the blue glow faded away. She smiled at Sheila, as she walked up.

"Jacqueline... that was AWESOME!" Sheila screamed, as the robot began freeing her. "WHY DON'T YOU USE THAT BATTLE MODE MORE OFTEN?!"

"Uses a lot of energy and I've never felt the need to." Jacqueline shrugged. She chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Don't get used to it, though, that really took it out of me."

"YOU'RE DARN RIGHT I'M GETTING USED TO IT!" Sheila screamed. "AS SOON AS WE'RE GETTING HOME THE FIRST THING I'M DOING IS INSTALLING BETTER POWER CELLS FOR THAT! FINALLY I HAVE SOMETHING OVER MY IDIOT BROTHER!"

"Pretty sure Jack can do that too." Jacqueline said, simply.

"SINCE WHEN!?"

"Since always?"

"WELL I'M GONNA MAKE YOURS BETTER!"

"Uh huh."

As Sheila straightened herself up, and looked around the moaning and injured cult members around her, she remembered one extra important detail.

"Where are the other two?" She demanded.

"I told them to run." Jacqueline said. "I didn't want them to get captured again."  
"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Jacqueline sighed. She knew this part was coming.

"JACQUELINE THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! WE HAVE TO HURRY AND CAPTURE THEM BEFORE THEY ESCAPE! COME! TIME IS OF THE ESSANCE!"

"That won't be necessary, girl."

Sheila and Jacqueline froze as the calm and evil voice cut the air that already hadn't been cut by Sheila's outbursts.

Slowly, they turned, and saw a tall blonde woman with muddy and matted hair and blood all over her face and white gown. In each hand, she was dragging Jessica and Chris, respectively, by their shirt collars. The two were unconscious and limp.

Sheila's raised an eyebrow.

"You don't keep up with your beauty regime." She commented.

"You two have delayed our ritual long enough." The woman hissed, staring at Sheila with her intense unblinking eyes. "Sisters! Be healed and stand!"

Sheila and Jacqueline watched uncomfortably as the cult members suddenly stopped moaning in pain, and unanimously stood up, facing the two.

"You have a promising career as a nurse, I see." Jacqueline commented.

"Restrain the girl and her steel companion." The woman said, tilting her head like an animal examining its prey.

Almost immediately Sheila felt two people grab her from behind, as did Jacqueline.

"Yeah Jacqueline... Combat mode would be pretty cool right now..." Sheila growled, glaring at the woman.

"I can't..." Jacqueline said, a hint of fear in her voice. "I don't have the energy left..."

Sheila growled angrily and glared at the woman through narrowed eyes.

"This is all my stupid brother's fault!" She grumbled, as she felt herself being tied down once again.

An evil and bloody smile spread across the woman's face.

* * *

 _knock, knock, knock, knock_

Calvin took a step back and waited for someone from the syndicate to open the door. Hobbes was standing beside him while he and Socrates kept Shack restrained, and Andy stood in the very back, Sherman sitting in his usual spot in Andy's coat pocket.

There was brief pause before the door opened, the group saw the familiar trench coat and top hat of the Doctor, who stared down at them with an uninterested glare.

"Ah, you're back." He muttered. "Good. The scientist and his creation are beginning to tire me."

"Oh, they're still here?" Calvin asked. "I wondered where he went."

The Doctor's eyes shifted to Shack.

"Where'd you find that?" He asked.

"In the street." Socrates grinned.

"Okay..." Doctor said, expressionlessly. "Do you have the payment?"

Andy stepped forward and took his backpack off. Doctor peered back and forth down the hallway as the boy opened it and pulled the football sized crystal out.

Doctor's eyes widened slightly at the sight of it.

"You... Where did you find _that?_ " He started, slowly.

"It started raining them while we were looking for them." Andy said, blankly.

"And that one just fell down with the rest of them?" Doctor said, a tone of disbelief in his voice.

"Yeah...," Sherman said, his brow furrowing. "Is it enough?"

"Yeah..." Doctor said with a tone of exasperation. "Yeah, it's enough..."

He sighed, and stepped aside, allowed the group to enter. Imposter waved happily from his side of the room, while Jackal continued napping and Puppeteer remained staring out his window, thoughtfully.

Brainstorm and Jack were sitting at the wooden table in the center of the room, as Brainstorm fiddled frantically with a sort of Gothic appearing steel box, and Jack read a newspaper, blankly.

"Jack, ol' buddy!" Shack suddenly blurted out, attempting to wave, until remembering that his arms were tied behind his back.

Jack's eyes lifted and he stared at the group as they entered. He exhaled sharply, before lifting the paper closer to his face.

Brainstorm, on the other hand, shot up in his seat and jabbed a finger at the man.

"You!" He bellowed, causing Jackal to wake up with a start. "You're the reason we're stuck in this mess!"

"I am?" Shack asked, looking around for someone else the mad scientist could have been referring to.

"Yes! Yes you are!" Brainstorm growled.

Jackal stood up and took a step towards the group. "Ooh, so you're telling me we have the person responsible for making me have to deal with these idiots?" He grinned, darkly.

"Hold on, now!" Calvin said, holding his hand up. "We still need this idiot to be able to talk. He's gonna point us towards the other idiot."

Jackal sighed in disappointment and shot a menacing look at Shack before sitting back down. "Fine, whatever." He grumbled. "You guys get the crystal or what?"

Andy pulled the crystal out of his pack again.

Jackal took his mask off and stared at the crystal with his eyes wide and his mouth agape. Imposter and Puppeteer gasped as well.

"The heck did you get that?!" Imposter shouted in disbelief.

"I get the sense we got a rather large one." Sherman said.

"Just a smidgen." Puppeteer said.

"Ya know, by like maybe an inch." Imposter said.

"And by an inch, he means a foot." Puppeteer added.

"They usually don't get any bigger than your fist." Doctor explained, dryly. "Any larger ones are usually quickly grabbed up and sold at exponential prices to the 'high end' crowd."

"I don't think I've ever seen one this big, honestly." Jackal grinned, staring at the crystal greedily. "I'm surprised another syndicate didn't jump you when you grabbed it!"

"Just think, I might be able to afford those renovations I've been meaning to get to." Puppeteer said, thoughtfully.

"It was in an alley." Andy said, quite proud of his capture at this point. "It had fallen behind a dumpster, so I guess no one else had seen it.

"I've seen bigger." Shack said, casually.

"Shut up, straw boy!" Jackal snapped.

"That's hurtful, man."

"I don't really care. I don't like you!" Jackal snapped, jabbing his finger at the man, threateningly.

"Which is why I didn't pick you to be my best friend." Shack sniffed. "Right, Jack?!"

Jack didn't move or respond in any way as he remained hidden behind the newspaper.

Shack blinked. "I sense a lot of tense muscles in this room." He felt the need to bring up. "Did you know I took schooling to be a masseuse once?"

Everyone glared at him.

It wasn't long before Shack found himself tied to a chair in front of the wooden table in the apartment's center in a very 80s cop style interrogation scene. Everyone circled him with the exception of Jack, who was now sitting on the other side of the apartment, still reading his newspaper. Shack grinned happily at them all, patiently awaiting his fate.

"Sooo... Who's gonna ask the questions?" Calvin asked, finally.

Everyone exchanged glances. None of them really wanting to talk to the mentally unstable man. Finally, Brainstorm took a step forward.

"I'll do it!" He said, proudly. "I've had my fair share of interrogations in my day!"

"Asking Jacqueline where your sister put the stuff she stole from you doesn't count." Jack said boredly, without looking up.

"Shut up, Jack!" Brainstorm snapped, approaching the table. He glared down at Shack, while Shack grinned happily up at him.

"Alright punk!" He growled jabbing his finger into his face. "I want answers and I want them now!"  
"Certainly." Shack grinned. "What would you like to know?"

Brainstorm blinked. He wasn't expecting it to be this easy.

"Erm..." He started. "Your boss! I want to know what he's planning!"

"I'd love to tell you!" Shack said, excitedly.

There was a moment of silence.

"Good..." Brainstorm said, his eyes darting back and forth. "Get on with it then!"

"I just need you to give me the questionnaire password!" Shack grinned.

Brainstorm stared at him for a long moment. "The... the what?" He asked.

"Ya know? The password that Shade set up in case I was captured and interrogated!" Shack explained. "He said I can't tell people stuff unless they give me the password first!"

Brainstorm stared at Shack for a long moment.

"Erm... right..." He started rubbing his chin.

He was silent for a moment.

"Would you like the designated password hint?" Shack offered.

"Sure..." Brainstorm said, slowly.

"Capture the Flag." Shack said.

Brainstorm paused.

"Erm... game?"

"Nope!"

"Team?"

"Nope!"

"Score?"

"Nope!"

"Uhh, I dunno... Flag?"

"Sorry, you've exceeded your three password attempt limit." Shack sighed. "If you'd like, you can fill out the 'forgot password' form, but I will need your e-mail address and the last four digits of your social security number."

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, BOY!" Brainstorm bellowed, getting into Shack's face again.

"We always need to have time for our security!" Shack said. "If you don't, then people from China steal your identity and then buy bulk in chopsticks and communism!"

Silence held thick in the air as everyone contemplated the words that had just came out of Shack's mouth.

Doctor took a step forward and put his hand on Brainstorm's shoulder.

"Let me have a go." He said, coolly.

Brainstorm grumbled and glared at Shack as he stepped aside and allowed the Doctor to step up.

"Your name is Shack, yes?" Doctor said, taking a pair of surgical gloves from his bag and slipping them on.

"That it is!" Shack grinned. "What's your name, friend?"

"Names are too formal." Doctor said, beginning to place several different surgical tools on the table in front of Shack. "You can just know me as the doctor. I just like to know my patients, is all."

"That's cool." Shack said, seeming to not take notice of what Doctor was doing. "So what's up?"

Doctor's eyes shifted to Shack, briefly, before shifting back down to the instruments in front of him.

"Shack, do you know what the plica semilunaris is?" Doctor said, finally.

"Well of course I do!" Shack grinned, suddenly reciting something as if it were from an encyclopedia. "The plica semilunaris can be found next to the tear duct. During eye movement, it ensures drainage of tears and sweeps debris away from the eye, but overall is not needed for human survival or the vision of that human. I mean like, man, who _doesn't_ know that?"

"Good, I'm glad you know." Doctor said, shifting himself closer. "Now... You're going to tell me what I need to know, or I will teach you more about how your eyes work."

"That sounds amazing!" Shack grinned, almost knocking his chair over in excitement. "I love learning!"

Doctor stared at Shack with his usual callous expression.

"Very well," He said, cupping his chin in his hands. "In that case..."

"Whoa there, man!" Socrates shouted, taking a step forward.

Doctor glared at him. "Do you want answers or not?" He growled.

"Like man," Socrates started. "Are you trying to give the small and innocent children nightmares?"

All eyes went to Calvin. He was fiddling with the MTM, and looked up upon noticing all the eyes on him.

"Sorry, I wasn't actually listening." He said, sheepishly. "Do we know stuff yet?"

Doctor sighed. "Then how do you propose we do this?" He grumbled.

"Have you tried being straight forward with your threats instead of hinting at it?" Jackal called. "Hey straw boy!"

"Yes, mean person?" Shack called back.

"Tell me what your boss is planning or I'll shoot all toes off and shove them up your nose!"

"I don't think my toes will fit up my nose!" Shack called back.

"You wanna find out, smart guy?!" Jackal growled stepping forward.

"Sure! It'll be a cool experiment I can tell Shade about!" Shack grinned.

"Now, now, no one's shoving noses into anybody's toes." Socrates said, stepping in between the two. "Trust me, boys. Me and my homie Imposter got this!"

Andy, Sherman and Hobbes all sighed, deeply. Calvin continued not paying attention.

Imposter looked back and forth, nervously. "We... We do?"

"Don't worry, I see this in the movies all the time." Socrates whispered. "Here's what we're gonna do. You be really nice to him, and I'll be really mean. It's called the 'good cop, bad cop' routine. It works every time."

"Uuh... Okay..." Imposter said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Socrates gave Imposter a thumbs up, and spun around to Shack, whose attention had now wandered to the ceiling.

"SO!" He announced taking a step forward and pointing accusingly at Shack. "You were responsible for the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, weren't you?!"

Shack gasped. "I was?!"

"You can drop the act!" Socrates growled. "I know everything! Now where's the bomb?"

"There's a bomb, too?" Shack shouted. "This day just keeps getting more dangerous!"

"THE BOMB, MAN! WE NEED TO KNOW WHERE THE BOMB IS!" Socrates shouted, motioning for Imposter to step forward.

"You're darn right we do!" Shack agreed. "We should start in the basement! They always plant the bomb in the basement!"

"And who is they, Shack?" Socrates demanded. "WHO IS THEY?!"

"Who 'are' they, thank you," Shack corrected.

"Don't play games with me, Mister!" Socrates ordered, once again motioning for Imposter to jump in.

"Um..." Imposter started, walking up to Socrates' side. "You want some milk?"

Hobbes buried his face into his hands.

"I'm lactose intolerant. But thank you." Shack grinned.

"That's what we'll do then!" Socrates announced. "We'll make you drink milk! That will make you talk, won't it?!"

"Actually, it will make my stomach hurt." Shack said. "Shade told me to stop drinking it the third time I threw up on his blueprints."

"This isn't working." Imposter whispered.

"Ssh, I got this." Socrates said. "This Shade person! Tell us more! Why does he wear the mask? What's under the mask? And more importantly... _what's he planning, punk?!_ "

"Well, he tells people he wears the mask cuz his breath smells bad, but really it's because he has this really big birthmark on his nose that he's embarrassed about. He tells me not to tell people, but I think that he needs to embrace himself for who he truly is." Shack said, nodding.

Socrates glared at him, before turning back to the group.

"Well I've done all I can do." He shrugged, walking away.

"Oh for God's sake..." Jack growled, finally standing up.

Everyone turned and looked at him as he walked up to Shack with an expression of deep annoyance as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey buddy." He said, in a tone of intense irritation. "Where's Shade?"

"Oh, he's in the old abandoned coal factory in Lunanix." Shack grinned.

"There ya go." Jack growled, walking back to his seat.

Everyone paused.

"Erm, you guys know where that is?" Calvin asked, looking up at Jackal.

"Yes," Jackal nodded, simply.

"Cool..." Calvin said. "Uuh... I guess we should go then."

"I'll pack the snacks!" Puppeteer offered.

"Oooh!" Socrates said, jumping up. "What form of snack are we talking about here?"

During all this prep, Imposter looked over at Calvin, and saw he was still fiddling with the MTM with a look of deep concentration on his face.

"Hey, Calvin!" Imposter shouted, causing the boy to look up.

"Yes, scary chainsaw guy?"

"Come here, real quick! I have a suggestion for you!"

* * *

The coal factory was very haunting in appearance. The smoke stacks towering ominously over the brick building, with several broken windows and the door barely on its hinges.

The group of twelve approached the building. The syndicate with more solemn expressions as they got closer.

"There she is." Jackal whistled. "Last time we were here, place was overrun with banshees."

"Haven't seen any of them, yet." Andy commented.

"You're not missing much." Imposter said. "To this day, I still sometimes get a ringing in my ears when someone talks to me."

"Well maybe next time you won't run up to one head on, and try to hit it." Doctor said, mockingly.

"Well excuse me for using the short range weapons." Imposter said, defensively.

Calvin examined the door, and looked down at the MTM.

"What you think?" He asked.

"There's definitely some traps in there." MTM commented. "The man seems to like his privacy. There's probably a back entrance though that Shack uses."

"Probably." Calvin said, looking up. "I'm sure this won't be a problem. Shack?"

Shack grinned, and jumped to attention.

"Go on ahead, please."

"Sure thing!" Shack grinned, skipping in front of the group and up to the coal factory's door.

He kicked it a couple times.

"HEY SHADE! I'M BACK!" He called, loudly. "TURN THE TRAPS OFF SO I DON'T DIE, PLEASE!"

He waited a moment, with his ear pressed against the door, before he turned back to the group.

"Okay, we're good!" He grinned.

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances.

"Shade will be overjoyed to see you, I'm sure!" Shack grinned, opening the door. "He doesn't get company very often."

"I can't imagine why," Brainstorm growled.

"Me either. He's actually pretty cool when you get to know him!" Shack chuckled.

Upon entering the building, everyone's eyes widened significantly at what they saw. Surrounding them, and taking up nearly the entirety of the open building and even some of the ceiling, was a massive steel machine. Every square inch of it was covered in controls, lights, and monitors that flashed intermediately. The sound was that of at least a thousand computers all humming at once. The sound was so loud, the building had to have had some form of shielding on the outside to prevent it from being heard. Ladders and stairs covered the machine and upon one of the catwalks, examining a screen with a clipboard, was the familiar figure of Shade.

"The heck have you been?" He grunted, not looking up. "You'd been gone so long, I thought a werewolf got you."

"Nope! Just our enemies!" Shack grinned.

Shade finally looked down and saw the audience that had formed beneath him.

"Aah," He said uninterestedly, turning back to his clipboard. "I was wondering when they'd find us."

"I see you got the duplicator working!" Shack grinned. "Both machines are in this world and the other?!"

"They are indeed." Shade said, calmly.

"Okay, Shade, listen up!" Calvin said stepping forward. "We don't have time for this, and I'm sure you don't either. You look pretty busy in fact... So here's the deal. You send me and my friends back to our own universe, and you won't hear from us again! We'll give you your idiot back, and you can go on ahead with your whatever!"

Shade didn't respond.

"Hey! You listening?! I'm trying to compromise here!" Calvin shouted up again. "I don't do this too often with the bad guys, so you should feel special! Regardless we have you outnumbered and decently outmatched, so I wouldn't be trying anything evil or such!"

"It doesn't matter." Shade said, flipping a few switches on the machine and writing down the readings on the screen.

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged worried glances. They had not seen an enemy be this uncaring before.

"What doesn't matter?" Calvin asked, turning back.

"Your desires to return home. They don't matter." Shade said. "I could send you all back right now and it wouldn't mean a single thing."

"Well I heartedly disagree." Socrates grumbled. "I'll have you know I haven't seen a single Wendy's since I got here!"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Calvin demanded.

Shade didn't respond, once again.

"Okay, that's it!" Jackal growled, forming a small shotgun in his hand and aiming it in Shade's direction. "You're starting to tick me off, raven boy! What are you even doing?!"

"The only thing worth doing in my universe." Shade replied, still not looking up.

"That power source you're using..." Sherman suddenly spoke up, examining the power cells that were plugged in at several different spots on the machine. "Raw interdimensional energy... More than I've ever seen used in anything before... This machine has enough power to rip a hole in time! Possibly even the void..."

"The void?" Doctor asked.

"The space between universes." Calvin explained. "Ya know when you have a bunch of things in your bag? Imagine the things in your bag are universes and the empty space in your bag is the void. Stretching across all of existence. Pure nothingness."

"Just like Wyoming." Socrates nodded.

Shade chuckled, finally. Showing the most emotion since the group entered. "Wow, you guys are smarter than you look." He said. "Then again, you would have to, to be able to hold a fork."

"Says the guy in a bird mask." Andy grumbled.

"You found me out." Shade said, turning around and leaning against the railing. "This machine is designed to rip a hole in this world so large, the entirety of it could be absorbed into the void."

"But why would you do that?" Sherman demanded.

"Yeah... This place kinda sucks, but it doesn't deserve that!" Socrates added.

The syndicate all glared at him.

"I have the same machine in our world." Shade continued. "The exact same machine, performing the exact same functions. Both operating at full capacity will slam both realities into each other."

"You're trying to merge the two worlds..." Calvin said, his eyes widening with realization.

"And the two timelines that come with it." Shade nodded.

"But... why? Why would you do that?!" Calvin demanded.

"Oh take a step outside once in a while." Shade growled. "Our world is so plain! It's so boring and tedious the only thing that anyone cares about is what the latest celebrity thinks about a pair of jeans!"

"Not gonna lie, your world does sound pretty boring." Imposter admitted.

"Yes, but we also have chocolate." Socrates added.

"We have chocolate here..."

"You do? Huh... I'll bet ours is better."

"Then why not just live in this universe?!" Sherman demanded. "Why would you attempt something like this?!"

"Ah, but you see, I'm stubborn." Shade admitted. "I want to have my cake and eat it too. And with this machine, I can. Everyone I know will be merged into this world, as will everyone in this world with ours. It will be as if nothing changed for you! This will be your lives!"

"And the timelines..." Calvin said. "You're going to merge the timelines, which means..."

"It's already begun." Shade said, distantly. "Variations of each universe have been leaking into each other all throughout time. It's practically already happened."

Calvin's eyes widened as he remembered the billboard with the Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs from earlier as well as several moments from his own past.

 _"Erm... Socrates? How much did your family know about this house before they bought it?" Andy asked, examining the ceiling where a loud bang had just occurred above them in Socrates' massive mansion._

 _"Don't worry!" Socrates chuckled. "House is really old! Over a hundred years! It's nothing!"_

 _"You're seeing ghosts?" Sherman said, skeptically staring Calvin up and down inside of his lab._

 _"Yes." Calvin said simply._

 _"Ya know, Calvin, I really did picture you as the sensible one."_

 _"Since when can ghosts do THAT?!" Socrates demanded, looking around the darkened fun house timidly._

 _"They can't." MTM replied. "Ghosts can't change their physical surroundings."_

 _"Well why couldn't you see the ghost earlier?" Sherman asked._

 _"Whatever it was, it was hiding its energy signature from me." MTM said. "Ghosts can't do that either."_

" _Who are you, child?" Cooed the dirty and bloody woman from the field in which Calvin's babysitter was kidnapped._

" _Why, I'm Calvin the Bold." Calvin chuckled. "You may remember me from a few years ago, I was kind of a big deal."_

 _The woman stared at him, not responding._

" _The whole missing for a month thing? Up in the mountains? It was on the local news."_

 _No response._

" _Stopping an alien invasion and all that jazz? They left that part out, but it definitely happened."_

" _My sisters and I do not partake in society's traditions." The woman said coldly._

And it was at that moment, that all that information came and hit Calvin like a ton of bricks to the face.

They were all from the Luna universe.


	12. Fighting the Bad Guys

The machine was get louder, and Shade was standing over it like a proud father. A proud father wearing a creepy bird mask, but a proud father all the same.

Calvin cleared his throat. "Okay, come on. Just turn the machine off. There's no way in heck this can possibly work!"

Shade sneered down at him. "Oh? And why not?"

"Because…! Er… because… Sherman, tell him!"

Sherman raised an eyebrow at Calvin before addressing Shade. "You can't do this because merging the two universes together would only destroy them both! Then none of us would exist! And then you'd be _really_ bored!"

"Am I to take advice from a _rat_?" Shade asked condescendingly.

"Hamster!" Sherman snapped.

"I have performed all the necessary calculations."

"Ah, but did you do them _right_?" Dr Brainstorm asked. "Because believe me, that bit's important."

"Of course I did. Every equation has been checked and double-checked."

"Well, that's just swell," Andy said. "Bet you still got it wrong, though."

Shade glared at him over the railing. "How'd you like to come up _here_ and say that, _little_ boy?"

Jackal took a step in front of Andy, drawing his gun. "Look, mister. I won't pretend I understand what the heck you're doing. But anyone taking in the ambience of this room can tell it's no good."

"Oh yeah, the dim lighting's a dead giveaway," said Imposter.

"And the loud machines just getting louder adds to the mood," agreed Puppeteer.

"Plus, the fact that you even included a gantry with a railing to lean over suggests a psychological need to be superior to everyone," Doctor observed.

Shade looked at him, then at the railing he was leaning on, and somewhat awkwardly stepped away from it, still looking down at them. "So I'm not living up to your ideals of a normal human being. What of it?"

Jackal drew his gun, Puppeteer drew his oversized hammer, Imposter took a fighting stance and Doctor drew his scalpel.

"Care to dance?" Puppeteer asked sweetly.

Shade laughed shortly and violently. "You can't touch me!"

"Oh yeah?" Jackal asked, squeezing the trigger.

The bullet sailed neatly through the air. Shade's body lit up like a frightened angelfish as his force field absorbed the bullet and assimilated it.

Shade took great pleasure in glaring down at Jackal. "Oh yeah."

The Syndicate all slowly lowered their weapons, realizing they weren't about to be using them effectively anytime soon.

"… So now what?" Socrates asked, sounding a tad worried now.

"Now you just kick back and wait for the machine to finish its work," Shade replied, turning back to the machine. "You will do well to just accept it. As soon as it's over, it will be as though your lives were always like this – two worlds, living as one."

He reached over and pulled a great big diabolical-looking lever. The machine roared even louder, crackling with electricity and causing the lights to dim a bit.

"The other machine in our world will auto-activate," he explained over the noise. "As soon as this one begins the process, they'll be in perfect synchronization."

"Working in sync," Calvin mused. "Working as a team… Sounds like a brilliant idea."

"It does?" Hobbes asked.

"Oh certainly. Working together. Achieving a common goal. You know, _we_ could be a lot like those machines," the boy said, gesturing at the machinery before them.

Hobbes stared for a long moment, but then, comprehension dawned, and he grinned. "Well then, we'd best get started doing what we do best."

"Breaking stuff!"

"Exactly!"

Hobbes reared up and pounced one of the computer terminals, sending it crashing to ground in a shower of sparks and smoke.

Hearing the noise, Shade peered over the railing and saw the mess. "Hey! Stop that!"

Seeing that this had riled him, this inspired the rest of the team. Jackal drew his gun and proceeded to shoot out some of the computer terminals. Doctor used his scalpel to cut through some of the wiring – thankfully while wearing his rubber surgical gloves. Socrates and Imposter pulled out bottles of seltzer water and sprayed some circuitry, causing it to short out. Puppeteer pulled out his mighty hammer and slammed it repeatedly against a particularly sturdy computer terminal.

Soon, even Dr Brainstorm was getting in on the action, firing his Servant Ray in every direction. Jack extended his legs to get at the machines on the upper levels. Andy helped Sherman climb into another terminal, and the hamster began making very precise damage wherever he could.

Shade watched all this with growing fury. He locked eyes with Calvin as the boy was kicking another computer, so Calvin was the only one to see him curiously jump into the shadows.

"Hey, where'd he go?" he shouted over the noise.

"Oh, he jumped into the shadows," Shack explained breezily, having been forgotten about this whole time. "He'll use one of ours to come back out again."

Jackal stared at him. "Wait, he'll _what_?"

Bang on cue, Shade leaped out of Jackal's shadow as if it were a portal, and he jumped the masked man and knocked him to the floor, sending his gun skating across the floor away from him. The two men began to fight right there on the floor.

"How the heck did you _do_ that?!" Calvin demanded as he ran over to help.

Shade managed to pin Jackal to the grin, and he looked up at Calvin. "I've acquired a blood crystal for myself that allows me to merge with darkness."

"How appropriate," Hobbes remarked.

"I can now interact with and pass through any shadow I cross. Remarkable things, these gems. Aren't they, Shack?"

"Sure are, boss!" Shack replied, holding up a blood gem in his hand. "Look what _mine_ can do!"

The air around Shack rippled, and the straw-hatted man disappeared. Everyone froze and looked around, trying to see where he'd gone.

Suddenly, the air in front of Puppeteer rippled, and the larger man found himself being blown backwards by a particularly strong gust of wind. He landed on top of Doctor, sending the two of them in a heap on the floor. They looked up at Shack. He was holding his hands out in front of him.

"I can blow air!" he said proudly.

"That's one way of putting it," Sherman muttered.

Shack turned and gestured with his hand, causing a burst of air to blow the hamster through the air. Thankfully, Jack extended an arm in time to catch him before he hit the wall, and he passed him over to Andy, who protectively placed his pet in his pocket.

Jackal resumed his struggle to get Shade off of him. "I don't care _what_ you can do! You've still got to be stopped!"

"Bit late for that now," Shade sneered. "With these blood gems, we're unstoppable."

Calvin reached into his pocket. "Yeah, I agree. Those blood gems are incredible. Completely full of power. Jumping through shadows, teleporting, airy hands… charging CD players…"

Quick as a wink, he whipped out the MTM, firing a laser that blasted Shade across the room and into a computer terminal.

Jackal sat up and stared, seeing the MTM had a bright red gem attached to his underside. "Where'd you get that?"

"Stole it. How else?" Calvin grinned.

Jackal smirked appreciatively before getting up and retrieving his gun. "Now then! Where were we?"

Almost instantly, a blast of air sent the gun flying back out of his hand, and he was startled to see Shack standing right next to him. The straw-hatted man grinned before he fired another air blast that sent Jackal flying until he smashed against the wall.

Imposter attempted to summon an avatar that could ideally fight them, but a moment after he'd created a gigantic three-eyed scaly beast that could breathe fire, Shade leapt out of the creature's shadow and collided with Imposter, sending him crashing to the floor.

Dr Brainstorm pulled out his Servant Ray. "Okay, Bird Man! I've had enough of being on the sidelines! It's time to reassert myself as the rightful – ACK!"

Shack had teleported behind him and shoved him to the ground.

"On the ball as always, Frank," Jack sighed.

Shade dove into another shadow and burgeoned out of the shadow of a large computer. He gave it a good shove and knocked it over – right where Jack was standing. The robot barely had just enough time to notice this and react appropriately.

"Huh boy…"

It landed on him with a sickening crash, and everyone watched in horror as bits and pieces of Jack went skidding past them.

Dr Brainstorm stared as one of Jack's hands ended up beside him on the floor. He picked it up, looked it over, and then, he let out a scream of fury as he charged at Shade, Servant Ray at the ready, but another gust of wind came through the air, picking him up and throwing him against the wall. He slid down onto the floor, unconscious.

Shack walked over to the toppled computer terminal where Jack's remains lay. "Poor old Jack… He was such a good pal! My best friend in the whole universe! I'll never forget you, Jack!" He picked up the discarded hand fondly. "Especially once I have you stuffed and mounted. I've never stuffed a robot before! Then we'll be together forever!"

The hand suddenly leapt up and smacked Shack across the face. He yelped in pain as it dropped to the floor and began to skitter under the monitor as Jack's self-repair system did its best to put him back together again.

Shade stepped out of the shadows, glaring over at Calvin and his gang – the original team standing across from him.

"Well, well, well…," he grinned. "Looks like it's just us now."

Calvin held up the MTM, which crackled with energy. "I'm playing with a full deck now, Shade, so you better watch it."

Hobbes bit his tongue, choosing to avoid the obvious joke.

"There is no debate here. It's time for you naughty children and your strange pets to go to beddy-bye now."

"I'm sorry, 'pets'?" Socrates repeated in a disgusted tone.

"That is a _wicked_ slander!" Sherman snapped.

Andy cleared his throat. "To be fair, Shermie, you _do_ sleep in a cage back home."

"Andy, stop being fair to the bad guy!"

"You sleep in a pile of cedar chips."

"It's _cozy_ , dang it!"

Hobbes cleared his throat. "If we could possibly steer the conversation back on course," he said. "The point is that we're not about to let you decide what happens to the universe. You want a more active lifestyle? Get a haircut and fight werewolves, gargoyles and vampires for the rest of your life, if you think you can last that long. Meanwhile, _we_ believe that the rest of the universe shouldn't have to be subjected to the whims of a shadow bird man with Attention Deficit Disorder."

"That was well-spoken and articulated, Hobbes," said Calvin. "But _I'm_ the one who tells off the villains around here!"

"Snooze, you lose."

Suddenly, there was a loud horn going off, startling all of them, save for Shade, who looked as though he'd been anticipating it.

"Seems you're too late!" he declared. He turned and dove into the nearest shadow.

He reappeared on the gantry by the main computer monitor. He pressed a few buttons and checked the readouts.

"Both machines are in full activation! The merging shall begin!"

He reached for another lever and gave it a good pull.

There was a rumbling in the ground, and everyone realized it was really happening. The universes were splicing together.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _I don't normally say this, but... leave a review? Anyone? They seem to have dropped off. Hope this story is at least resonating with_ some _people. Even if you don't like it, leave a review explaining why. Thanks_


	13. Crawling Through Memories

_They say to not whisper to wind._

 _For the cold night wind is but the messenger to evil creatures._

 _It was a poem that my mother would tell me after we locked up each night._

 _"The echo of thy uttered word_

 _Can wake them, make them creep."_

 _When I was boy, I feared the night._

 _Only now I live in it._

 _Jackal, Imposter, Puppeteer and myself. Each of us whisper to wind every night._

 _And we don't lose all too easily._

* * *

The deafening rip that followed Shade's words rung out through all of reality. The Victorian dressed people of Luna looked upwards in wonder as the sky turned dark orange, and clouds seemingly evaporated.

As a sound similar to metal tearing rang out, the orange skies were suddenly split, revealing a dark and ominous hue of violet. Purple and blue energy seemed to pour out of the tear and infest the skies like a virus.

Panic ensued as people raced to their homes, unsure of what was even happening, but knowing only to lock themselves in their houses for protection.

* * *

In Calvin's universe, the same event followed.

"Did you hear that?!" Nebular shouted, jumping up in his tiny nightcap and looking around his quarters in shock.

"No Nebular, I'm afraid I went deaf in the last two seconds." Galixoid said sarcastically, also in a tiny night cap, and in his own respective bed across from Nebular's.

"Just open the window, would ya?" Nebular muttered.

Galixoid reached a tentacle out and pushed a button on his bed, slightly illuminating the room, and causing a sliding panel to reveal a circular window on the wall behind him. Dark orange light flooded the room, as the two aliens stared outside with expressions of shocked confusion.

* * *

In another corner of the galaxy, another alien sat atop a balcony in multi story castle on planet of lava and fire. He squinted his compound eyes against the brightness of the sky as he glared at it thoughtfully. Another alien approached from behind.

"They science team just got back to us." Earl said, looking to the sky with a hint of concern.

"Please stop calling Bill the 'science team'." Rupert sighed.

"I'm just saying what will look good on the report." Earl grumbled. "No surprises, but he doesn't know what's happening. All I can manage to gather is this phenomena is occurring across all our controlled sectors."

Rupert nodded and continued staring upwards.

* * *

On Earth, several people came out of their homes to stare in awe at the sudden change in weather above them. Sheila and Jacqueline observed all of this transpiring from their captive positions, while Jessica and Chris remained unconscious, and the cult even paused their rituals momentarily once again to observe the strange sight.

"How much you wanna bet my brother did that?" Sheila grumbled, angrily.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes.

* * *

The roar of the machine was near deafening at this point. Shade stood silently on the walkway, observing his creation at work.

"It will all be alright soon." He assured everyone, quietly. "Everything will be fine... soon."

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged bewildered expressions, while Socrates motioned to Andy while twirling his finger around his head.

"Shade, let me ask you something real quick." Calvin said, tilting his head.

Shade turned his head in their direction. "Make it quick." He said, simply. "Soon, you won't remember me. Maybe you won't even be here. It's hard to say."

"Right, right." Calvin said, nodding. "Cuz dimensional merging and all that. Now, I'll admit, math is not my strong suit. I got a C- in it in fact. So I can't determine if you got all that correct in order for the universes to be seamlessly connected. You know what _is_ my strong suit, though? Science. I know how time travel works, I know how interstellar space-travel works, and I know what happens when interdimensional energy comes into contact with untampered matter, and even the scientific analysis and reasoning on how ghosts work."

Shade paused as he thought about that. "That... makes no sense whatsoever... Math is literally required in science..."

"Hey, don't interrupt!" Calvin snapped. "The point I'm making here is I know my way around this area. And the thing is... when you start mixing interdimensional energy and antimatter with normal dimensional energy and normal matter, the two don't get along... And usually they find a center point where they begin fighting it out, ya know? And that center point is typically where the antimatter was first introduced to our world. Which, in layman's terms, means..."

Suddenly, Calvin was cut off by the sound of wood creaking and bricks cracking.

Everyone looked around in terror, as the roof of the building was literally ripped off, and swallowed up by a gigantic swirling cloud of green and violet. Outside, the light of day had disappeared and shining down upon them was the brilliant blood red crystal hanging in the sky above all the chaos, indicating the curse was in full swing.

"...Stuff's gonna go wrong..." Calvin finished, pulling out the MTM.

Shade simply chuckled, and stepped into a shadow and out of sight. Shack bounded after him, and disappeared around a corner, leaving Calvin, Hobbes, Socrates, Andy and Sherman by themselves.

"Alright, MTM! We need a plan and we need one fast!" Calvin shouted over the wind.

"Working on it." MTM said. "Won't be but a moment."

"We don't really have a moment!" Sherman called. "We need to shut this computer down, now!"

"Afraid that isn't really an option, but I do have a plan." MTM said. "It seems the merging has sped time up in this universe, so we already have the night to deal with, but that shouldn't be a problem. Calvin, enter the room on your right."

Calvin looked to the right and saw a pair of double doors with wires running through the bottom of them. He motioned for his friends to follow and they pushed through the wind and into the room.

Upon entering, they found themselves surrounded by more computers, however, in the center of the room, was a very obvious console with a power lever over the top.

"Go give that a pull, would ya?" MTM said, simply.

Calvin stared at the lever for a second before shrugging and jogging over to it. He pulled the lever down, and a significant powering down sound was heard on several of the computers. Everyone looked around.

"Did... did we do it?" Andy asked.

"I mean, yay, saved reality and such, but that was _so_ anticlimactic!" Socrates grumbled.

"Not quite." MTM explained. "This machine is so incredibly large, I was wondering where it was getting its power from. Turns out, it's connected to three other alternate universes. It's using them as a battery to operate."

Calvin's brow furrowed. "But... that's going to drain those universes away..." He started.

"It already has started to." MTM said. "These worlds aren't even involved in this, and they're going to fade away into nothing soon."

"So what did pulling that lever do?!" Sherman demanded.

"The system has three power stations located around the building." MTM went on. "This was the closest one to us. The system is designed to keep going is one fails, but if we can shut all three down, then we would, theoretically, halt the entire process."

"Theoretically?" Calvin demanded.

"Indeed."

Another loud crash was heard from outside the room.

"It's the best we got right now." Sherman said, simply.

"Well, I dunno what we're standing around here for!" Socrates said, heroically. "Let's go find those power stations!"

"Alright MTM, point us towards the next one!" Calvin said, turning back to the double doors.

"Righto, just head back out there and I'll lead the way." MTM agreed.

Calvin opened the door, and he froze. Hobbes bumped into him, followed by Socrates and Andy respectively.

"What are you doing?" Hobbes asked. "We gotta..."

"Sssh!" Calvin hissed, his eyes looking straight up.

Hobbes' gaze followed as his hair began standing on end. Socrates did so as well, as did Andy and Sherman as they stared in horror at what was waiting for them outside.

Perched on the wall of the broken building, its head darting back and forth as it scanned its surroundings, was the wendigo. The elk skull was still placed over its head with the broken and jagged antlers jetting out of it like a bundle of knives. It growled and chirped as it looked around.

"Don't... move..." Calvin whispered. "Go full T-Rex defense mode right now and don't... move..."

Suddenly, another smaller wendigo appeared on the wall across from the first. The elk skull on this one's head seemed slightly fresher with bits of skin and muscle still attached to the bone. It screeched loudly, overpowering the sound of the wind as it reared up at the first one.

The first wendigo screeched back at it, and began skittering down the wall like a spider.

Another wendigo jumped in, this one larger than the first, and landed next to Dr Brainstorm's limp figure. Brainstorm's eyes fluttered open and focused on the boney and leathery leg that was mere inches from his face.

Immediately, he tensed up and his eyes widened as he realized what it was, and he stared at it in petrified terror. He looked over at Calvin, who very slowly shook his head, and mouthed to stay still.

The creature screamed and started away from Brainstorm towards the second one, as a fourth one jumped over the wall as well, and began scaling along the side of it as well, sniffing deeply in.

The second wendigo screeched once again and pounced the third, and the two began rolling across the floor, clawing at each other and screeching. They knocked computer terminals down and ripped wires as they fought, yet the skulls remained perfectly fitted to their faces. Soon, it became apparent that the larger wendigo was winning the confrontation, as it grabbed the smaller one by the legs, and slammed it into yet another computer tower, before throwing it like a rag doll at the wall, where it laid motionless upon landing.

The monster reared its head back and screeched loudly, as even more started to come over the top of the wall, and began crawling around, shrieking and knocking things over as they explored the room in front of them.

All the while, Calvin, Hobbes, Socrates, Andy, Sherman and Brainstorm all remained still as statues, hoping and praying that none of the creatures would bump into them or otherwise find them.

Until, with no warning or preparation for the worse...

"AAH-CHOO!"

Every single wendigo in the room froze and fell completely silent, before they all turned and stared directly at Socrates.

Calvin sighed, deeply. "Well, it's not like I'm surprised..."

The largest wendigo reared its head back and shrieked loudly, before the horde charged for the group.

"MTM ACTIVATE..." Before Calvin could finish his command however, a very ironically welcoming sound was heard.

A gunshot rang out, as the wendigo in the lead was thrown off balance and tossed into a nearby wall, causing the others to stop as well. Calvin and the group looked around to see Jackal standing up, holding his side with one hand, and an already fading shotgun with the other.

The shot wendigo jumped up and hissed at Jackal, seemingly unaffected by the attack.

"Uugh... You guys..." he said disgustedly. "You guys are such a pain to deal with."

The wendigos screamed and hissed as they began surrounding the unconcerned Jackal. Just as one made a dive for him, the familiar hooded figure of Imposter leaped from the shadows and hit it straight in the torso with one of his chainsaw blades.

Although the blade didn't cut it, it fell off course, and collided with the ground, still screaming, while Imposter back flipped over the top of it, and brought his hand down over its own, freezing the hand in place. The wendigo screamed and shrieked as it thrashed about trying to free itself while Jackal and Imposter stood back to back, facing the monsters.

"That one almost scratched me. Looks like you were getting pretty slow there!" Jackal commented.

"Sounds like you're just jealous of my weapons." Imposter bragged.

"Yeah well, guess who doesn't jump out of five story windows and breaks their legs trying to land on the water?"

"You just won't let me live that down will you?!"

"Ha, ha! Made ya mad!"

And with that, the two jumped into battle, as Puppeteer emerged from the wreckage himself, and roared as he slammed his hammer into the ground.

The ground shattered, and a small stone humanoid crawled from the rocks, and immediately charged the wendigos, punching them away and knocking them back.

Finally, as the battle ensued, the wendigos began to fall back. Although none of the attacks seemed to get completely through the monster's thick armored skin, they did hold impact and the syndicate proved untouchable.

As the wendigos retreated, Jackal shot one more time in one of their directions.

"Phew finally..." He grumbled. "Darn fighting those things is so boring. You can never actually make them bleed..." He looked around. "Where's Doc?"

"I'm over here." Doctor called from a shadow. "And stop calling me Doc!"

"I'll stop calling you Doc when you stop bothering me about how smoking is bad for me!" Jackal sniffed. "Thanks for all the help, by the way!"

Doctor came limping out of the shadows and glared at him. "Well so sorry I was bleeding and dying in a corner."

"Says the person who probably got beaten on the least!"

Doctor rolled his eyes and turned to Calvin's group, who were still dumbfounded at the scene they just witnessed. "Can you stop this?" he asked, pointing to the sky.

"I always do." Calvin replied, simply.

"Good. Then go stop it. This is as far as we can help you."

"What?!" Socrates shouted. "But you guys are so COOL! And we're probably gonna die if you don't come with!"

"We've sustained too many injuries." Doctor said, straightening himself. "I need to tend to my team."

Calvin nodded. "Don't worry guys. We got this."

Brainstorm stood up and looked around. As he did, he spotted Jack emerging from a pile of computers, finally having reconstructed himself.

"So what I miss?" He asked, plainly looking around. He stared at the torn apart building, then the swirling cloud above them. "Quite a lot, I see."

"Well guys," Calvin said, stepping forward. "There's a good chance I won't get to see you again after today. So if this is goodbye, I just want you know... Jackal is the coolest out of all of you."

"Heck yeah!" Jackal chuckled, giving Calvin a thumbs up. "Tell us something we don't know!"

Doctor, Imposter and Puppeteer rolled their eyes.

"Frank! Jack!" Andy called to the scientist and his robot. "Come on! We got a few universes to save!"

"DR BRAINSTORM!" Brainstorm screamed. "AND WE'RE GETTING THERE! JACK, GET OVER HERE SO I CAN YELL AT YOU FOR FALLING DOWN ON THE JOB LIKE THAT!"

Jack sighed, and simply walked after Calvin. Brainstorm hurriedly followed.

"Imposter ol' comrade!" Socrates called, just before they exited the room. "Don't forget the plans I gave you!"

"I got them, buddy!" Imposter shouted giving Socrates a thumbs up. "Thanks again!"

Socrates gave Imposter another thumbs up, before the raced off to follow his friends.

The Doctor walked up to Imposter.

"So yeah, I think my left arm might be broken." Imposter said, simply.

Doctor nodded, staring at Imposter's arm, thoughtfully. "Well..." He started. "Here's a Band-Aid...and a lollypop..."

Imposter stared blankly at the Doctor's offerings. "Yeah, I'll just pay for my own examination like normal, thanks." Jackal said, as he began limping off.

Calvin's group continued forward while Calvin held the MTM out in front of him, while they climbed the stairs towards a non-destroyed part of the factory.

"We're getting close." MTM chimed in. "The next power station should be behind the third door coming up on the left."  
"Alright, good." Calvin said. "Alright guys, here's the plan! We're gonna jump in, make sure there's no monsters, and throw down that switch as fast as we can! Any questions?!"

"What do we do if there's a monster?" Sherman asked.

"Cry, of course." Hobbes replied, simply.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

 _"This machine is so incredibly large, I was wondering where it was getting its power from. Turns out, it's connected to three other alternate universes. It's using them as a battery to operate."_

"Whoa, what the heck was that?" Calvin demanded.

"The heck was what?" Hobbes asked.

"I just had some serious Deja Vu, and I'm pretty sure that's bad!" Calvin muttered, rubbing his head.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"I dunno, I just felt a tinge and thought I heard MTM say something, but it was something he said like ten minutes ago."

Hobbes suddenly stopped. "Whoa... I just had that too..."

"Just happened here too." Andy said, thoughtfully. "MTM is that bad?"

"You're all experiencing flashbacks because the time vortex is unraveling." The tiny machine explained. "Events are being erased from the board. Reality is falling apart."

"Great, so I literally get to have my life flash before my eyes before I'm wiped from existence."

"All the more reason to hurry!" Calvin said, determined, as he raced up the door, and flung it open.

Almost as if it was standing guard, a werewolf whipped around and bared its teeth at Calvin, growling. The same console with the lever directly behind it.

Calvin stared at it for a short moment. "It's time like this I really wish I knew more curse words."

As the werewolf charged for Calvin, the boy frantically fumbled with the MTM attempting to aim it correctly, until out of nowhere, Socrates pounced the wolf and threw it against the ground.

In one swift motion, he grabbed the lever with his tail and pulled it down as hard as he could before facing the werewolf.

The wolf, now with a big scratch across its face slowly looked up at the tiger and bared its fangs once again.

"Tough guy eh?" Socrates chuckled. "Well, I must warn you, I'm a black belt in three martial arts! Two of which I may or may not have made up!"

The cat's eyes shot over to Calvin, who stared at him in bewilderment.

"You, I believe, have stuff to do." He grinned, as him and the werewolf began circling each other.

"Yeah, and we're not leaving you here!" Hobbes growled.

"No man left behind, Socrates! Come on!" Andy agreed.

"Nah, trust me guys, I got this." Socrates said, holding a finger up.

"Socrates, seriously, we need to go!" Calvin shouted.

"Guys!" Socrates snapped, glaring at them, finally. "Go fix this mess, please and thank you!"

" _Such a violent little boy! You really should learn to play nicely!"_

Calvin's eyes narrowed as another flashback flew through his mind. He nodded at Socrates and gave him a thumbs up.

Socrates returned the gesture, before turning back to the werewolf.

"So..." he said, as Calvin closed the door behind him. "Are you a sports fan?"

The werewolf roared, throwing spit into Socrates' face.

"I guess not." He contemplated, wiping the spit from his face.

* * *

"Alright, MTM, where's the last one?" Calvin asked, as the group raced away.

"It's in the basement." MTM replied. "This one is going to be a little harder to get to, though."

"Why?" Andy asked.

"The machine is now depending entirely on that station for power. It's going to probably have some defense systems when we get down there."

"Of course it will." Brainstorm grumbled.

"Okay..." Calvin said, as he approached a door with the label 'lower floor' on the top. "What kind of defense systems are we talking here?"

He opened the door, and was immediately greeted with an almost overpowering wind, that nearly knocked everyone off their feet. He fought against it, to get the door shut again.

"Was that it?" Hobbes asked.

"No, that would be the universe breaking." MTM replied.

"Oh okay, good to know."

"Okay guys, on three, I'm gonna open the door, and we're gonna push our way down!" Calvin said, keeping his hand on the doorknob. "Ready?"

"Eric?"

Everyone froze. Calvin's eyes darted among the group, searching for who could have said that. "I really hope one of you said that cuz you didn't know what else to say." Everyone shook their heads in unison.

"Excuse me, have you seen Eric?"

Brainstorm slowly turned his head, finding another face mere inches from his own. The dark grinning expression of the man with the scythe from earlier was smiling ear from ear, as it stared at Brainstorm with its wide and dead eyes. Upon seeing it this close for the first time, Brainstorm was able to make out what looked like insects slowly crawling around right underneath its pale and leathery skin.

"Oh, don't you have _anything_ else to do with your time?!" Brainstorm demanded.

The man reared back and screamed, holding the scythe above his head and bringing it down in front of him.

Brainstorm narrowly dodged it, while Calvin aimed the MTM at it.

"Okay, this one's new." he said, glaring at the man. "MTM, I might need your input on this one."

"It's a spirit of some sort." MTM said. "Possibly a ghost, but it has physical influences. My attacks might not work on it."

"Only one way to find out."

A red laser erupted from the MTM, and shot for the man. With almost inhuman speed, the man brought the scythe down to meet the blast, reflecting it, and shooting it towards Jack, instead.

"OOF!" Jack shouted, as he was thrown against the wall.

Calvin cringed. "Sorry..."

"Oh, I've gotten used to it, here." Jack grumbled.

The man reared back again to attack, only to be blocked by MTM's force field which quickly enveloped everyone. The scythe bounced off it, harmlessly, and the man simply cackled.

"We don't have time for this." The machine pointed out. "There's no telling how long before any of us simply cease to exist."

"Then go fix it already!" Brainstorm spat, holding his finger out. "Jack and I got this!"

"Do we, though?" Jack asked.

"Do you though?" Calvin added.

"I'll have you know we do!" Brainstorm announced. "Jack and I have faced off with this advisory before! We know how to fight it!"

All eyes went to Jack. Even the ghost paused to see what the response would be for this.

"We screamed and ran a lot, hiding behind a star crystal we no longer have." Jack said, standing up.

"JACK, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO NOT DIVULGE OUR BATTLE TACTICS?!"

Calvin's eyebrows drooped, as he looked back and forth between the ghost and Brainstorm and Jack. He knew the two weren't going to be able to win this fight. But at this point, they didn't have any other choice if they were going to get to the power station in time.

"Good luck guys." He said. "We're gonna get things fixed, I promise you that."

"Try and do it before we die, please." Jack said, nodding.

"JACK IT CAN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING TO YOU! I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE SCARED OF DYING!"

Everyone sighed as Calvin turned towards the door. Throwing it open, once again, The now four man party fought against the wind, as they vanished into the darkness, and the with them, the force field disappeared as well.

Brainstorm and Jack watched them go.

"Well this is overall crummy situation." Brainstorm grumbled.

"If it's any consolation, take a look at what I found scattered through my files." Jack yawned.

And with that, another blue electrified dome reappeared over the two. The ghost attempted to attack once again, only to have his attack again bounce off with no effect.

Brainstorm stared at Jack for a long moment with an expression of mixed relief and rage. "And how long have you had _THAT_?!"

* * *

Calvin, Hobbes, Andy and Sherman continued down the stairs, the wind almost overpowering all of them. Sherman gripped to Andy's pocket for dear life, while Hobbes kept Calvin in front so he didn't fall backwards, as he continued pointing the MTM in front of him.

"MTM! HOW MUCH FURTHER?!" The boy shouted over the wind.

"I can't be sure!" MTM shouted back. "My scanners are going haywire. It's like the station keeps shifting position. All I can say is keep going forward!"

" _Your immature mind would not comprehend our ideals!" The woman said, beginning to raise her voice slightly. "The ritual will bring about the second coming of our father!"_

" _That's... ambitious," He shrugged. "Not sure how you want me to respond to that, but sure."_

" _Respond by abandoning your hope for rescuing the sacrifices!" The woman was now shrieking angrily. "Unless you wish to take their place upon the altar!"_

" _Not particularly what I had in mind for my evening."_

" _Then leave!"_

The group finally hit the last stair before finding themselves in another open room. Around them, computer terminals were collapsing and fall over against the wind, as dust and dirt was flung around the room which was lit with an eerie dark yellow light, which seemed to intensify the further they went in.

"This is getting really annoying!" Sherman groaned. "I just had a flashback to a really embarrassing moment I had in front of my colleagues last week!"

"Sherman, your entire life is an embarrassing moment!" Hobbes shouted back. "I wouldn't feel too bad about it."

Calvin shielded his eyes against the wind as he stared further into the room. In front of him, he could only see the same eerie light. The other computer terminals were almost fading out completely as his vision only registered the light and the dust and wind roaring in front of him.

 _"Hey, where are we going?" Hobbes exclaimed._

 _"Cruise ship! Come on! While they're not looking!"_

 _"Whoa, slow down!"_

 _"Relax! We'll be back before they even know we're gone! Come on!"_

 _"In the past, you've been a remarkably poor judge about what your parents will or will not notice."_

As they walked, they heard the screeches and moans from several monsters upstairs, no doubt tearing the place apart as they battled the friends they left above them.

They walked for what seemed like an eternity but in all reality was probably only about a minute. Soon, the wind had grown even stronger than before, and the other recognizable features of the room had all but disappeared, leaving them stranded in a wasteland of low viability as the dark yellow light was all that surrounded them. Continuing further, a large black orb began coming into view in the distance. Black energy was surging from it in all directions, as the whirlwind of sand and dust grew ever stronger.

"That looks scarily close to what I imagine a black hole looks like!" Calvin groaned.

"Give it a minute." MTM said. "It's not quite black hole status, yet."

"We have to be getting close, now!" Hobbes shouted. "Andy, you doing okay back…?"

Hobbes was cut off as he looked behind himself. Calvin looked back as well to see what the matter was. Andy and Sherman had disappeared, leaving only the original two and MTM in their wake.

"Where'd they go?!" Hobbes shouted in shock.

"It's the timelines!" Calvin shouted back. "We never met Andy and Sherman! They were never with us to begin with.

 _Dad opened the front door, and standing on the front porch were Dr Brainstorm and Jack. Dr B was wearing a black afro wig and Jack was wearing a hat and suit._

 _"You called for a babysitter?" Dr Brainstorm asked, trying to keep his crazy eye at bay._

 _"Yes, we did," Dad said._

 _"Excellent! I'm DB and this is JR. Where's the little rugrat?"_

"That's not even fair! The flashbacks haven't gone that far yet!" Hobbes moaned.

Calvin shook his head. "Come on! We need to hurry!"

"Hurry to what?"

Calvin and Hobbes both jumped and spun around, seeing the familiar outline of a plague mask and a straw hat walking out of the fade.

"Yeah, we don't have time for this!" Calvin growled aiming the MTM at Shade as he approached.

Shade chuckled. "You don't learn quickly, do you?"

 _"Welcome to my reality!" Holographic Retro announced holding his hands out in front of him._

Calvin blinked and shook his head, trying to ignore the ghosts from the past running through his mind, still holding the MTM in front of him hoping for some kind of defense.

Shade tilted his head as he watched this. "Hmm, you're experiencing it too, huh?" He said. "It's fascinating isn't it? Brought back some old memories, I'll tell ya that."

"I finally remembered my password to my old Chuck Testa fan club website!" Shack said, excitedly.

Calvin and Hobbes glared at them, incredulously.

"You honestly can't see what this is?!" Calvin demanded. "All the intelligence to make a machine that can rip reality apart, but none to actually realize that that's what it does!"

"Sounds like humanity to me." Hobbes sighed.

"I'm not ripping reality apart! I'm improving it!" Shade shouted, jabbing his finger at Calvin. "I've spent my entire life working on this, and I'm not going to let some child who hasn't even been alive a quarter of my life stop me!"

"Mankind can hardly maintain our _own_ reality! Even if this did work, what makes you think they can handle two?" Hobbes asked.

 _"What are you doing?!" Calvin demanded._

 _"I'm kidnapping everyone you've ever met!" Thunderstorm cackled. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me, by imprisoning everyone you've ever come in contact with!"_

"That isn't of my concern!" Shade growled. "I'm giving you both one more chance to walk away from this! Just accept it!"

"I've never been the accepting type." Calvin said, his eyes narrowing.

 _"Erm, MTM?" Calvin asked into it. "It is I, your creator. How are you, uh, doing?"_

 _There was a silence. Hobbes and Socrates exchanged glances._

 _Calvin continued to stare at it. He sighed._

 _"OK, maybe I don't have all the bugs worked out, but I..."_

 _"Right, dudes." MTM suddenly said. "How's it hanging?"_

"Aah, memories." MTM sighed. "I remember delaying my answer just so you'd think you had messed something up."

"Not the time, MTM." Calvin muttered.

"In that case, I won't pity your blood on my hands!" Shade growled beginning to advance towards Calvin.

The MTM's front began glowing a brilliant blue as Calvin prepared to defend himself, when suddenly, he noticed a blur of orange streak past him.

Hobbes had jumped Shade and thrown him to the ground. Shade attempted to punch and kick him off, but Hobbes simply dodged each attack, and started biting down on Shade's arms and legs. The two rolled around on the ground for a moment, locked in a rather comical looking death battle while Shack and Calvin stared in shock at the occurrence.

"SHACK! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!" Shade screamed, trying to crawl away, only to be yanked back into Hobbes' awaiting claws.

"I only know how to handle _dead_ animals!" Shack shouted back. "See if you can kill him first, and then I can do something!"

"SHACK!"

 _"My mom is forcing me to join this despicable art you call band. And I'll have you know there should be a law against letting six-year-olds play music."_

 _"Newcomer, eh?" Said Klein. "Well, I want you to go over to the extra instruments over there, and we'll see what you can play."_

Calvin began backing away from the whole scenario.

"HOBBES, COME ON! WE HAVE TO GO!" Calvin shouted to him.

Hobbes looked up from the battle for a second, and gave Calvin a sympathetic look, before turning back to Shade.

"HOBBES!" Calvin shouted.

 _"You don't," Rupert said._

 _Calvin and Hobbes stared._

 _"We don't what?" Hobbes asked._

 _"Get to go home," Earl said, darkly._

 _The two held up their ray guns, and pointed them at Calvin and Hobbes._

 _The duo stared at the guns._

 _"Ooh, I see." Calvin nodded in understanding._

Calvin watched in horror as Shade, Shack and Hobbes faded and disappeared into the ever swirling storm. Shade and Hobbes continued battling it out on the floor while Shack stood over them, flailing his arms and cheering Shade on yet being generally unhelpful.

Calvin turned back towards the black orb. The wind was more powerful than ever at this point, and the boy had to rub debris out of his eyes in order to actually see what was going on.

"MTM! HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE?!" He shouted, his voice barely able to be heard over the roaring wind, as he started forward.

"Not enough!" MTM shouted back. "You need to keep moving!"

 _Calvin put his hand out, waiting to see if the others would join him._

 _His three other selves all looked at each other for a long moment, clearly making up their minds._

 _Finally, Spiff put a hand on top of Calvin's._

 _Then, Tracer joined them, placing his hand on top of Spiff's._

 _Finally, Stupendous Man smirked and slapped his hand on top of theirs._

Calvin continued pushing himself forward, though without Hobbes to guide him now, he kept being blown back on several occasions. Shielding his face as he walked, he gritted his teeth and kept holding the MTM in front of him in hopes of some kind of direction.

 _They arrived at the top of a hill and marveled at what they saw._

" _Wow, it really snowed last night!" Calvin cheered. "Isn't it wonderful?"_

 _The tiger smiled in agreement. "Everything familiar has disappeared! The world looks brand new!"_

A werewolf bounded past Calvin. The creature roared in fear as it tripped over itself in an attempt to escape the ever growing orb of darkness. It as well disappeared into the light as Calvin pressed forward.

" _A new year… A fresh, clean start!"_

" _It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!"_

" _A day full of possibilities!"_

 _They laid out the toboggan and crawled on. Calvin took the helm while Hobbes got behind to push._

" _It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy," Calvin declared as they set off down the hill. "Let's go exploring!"_

Calvin looked down to see that he was no longer holding the MTM. He had never been invented.

 _"All I can say is, this year Santa had better bring everything on my list! I've been extremely good all year!"  
_

 _"What about the noodle incident?"_

 _"NO ONE CAN PROVE I DID THAT!"  
_

Reality began blurring around the sides of Calvin's vision. All he could see was the orb. He coughed and sputtered while laughs and conversations from old adventures flooded his mind.

 _"What's with you? I thought you were building a snowman."_

 _"I did! But I brought him to life and now he's after me! I barely escaped!"_

 _"Uh huh..."  
_

Suddenly, Calvin felt something grabbing his leg. He looked down to see what looked like a black skeleton gripping his foot and holding him back. He fought against, kicking and screaming, while more seemed to emerge from the dust around him, grabbing onto him and attempting to pull him down.

 _"I'd hate to be accused of inhibiting scientific progress... Here ya go."_

 _He pressed the poorly drawn button on the machine._

 _BOINK_

 _"Scientific progress goes boink?"  
_

Finally, Calvin managed to kick them off, as the wind blew them all away into dust. Growling in frustration, he turned back and started towards the orb at a greater pace. This was starting to get annoying, now.

 _The very annoyed babysitter stood up, growling and muttering to herself while she started carrying Calvin away._

 _"I didn't really flush your notes! They're all there! Go look! Please don't kill me!"_

Suddenly, in addition to the roaring wind, another sound began reaching Calvin's ears. Upon looking around, he began to notice large cracks forming in the air around him with a brilliant white light pouring out of them. The cracks crept further past Calvin and out of sight as more began ripping through the air around him.

He desperately reached outwards with his hands looking for anything that he could grab onto.

 _"Aren't you supposed to turn the water off before you take apart the faucet?"  
_

 _"That's the problem I'm trying to fix, you moron! I can't turn the water off because the faucet leaks! Sheesh, where were you when they were passing out brains?_

 _Suddenly, as the top of the faucet fell off through Calvin's tinkering, the boy was greeted with an uproar of water that sprayed him in the face._

 _"OH NO! AUGHH! ACKK!"  
_

 _"I'll get you some paper and carbons for your written apology."  
_

Suddenly, Calvin felt something at the tip of his fingers. At first he wasn't sure what it was, but as he continued trying to grip it, it became more and more clear that it was a lever.

 _"How does this transmogrifier gun know what you want to transmogrify something into?"  
_

 _"Telepathy. The gun automatically reads your brain waves you emit, and turns the object into whatever you want."_

 _"That's amazing."_

 _"Well, it took me all morning to invent."_

Pushing himself with all his might, Calvin fought hard against the wind as he gritted his teeth and reached as far as he could, before finally getting a solid grip on the lever.

 _"There's a new girl in our class."  
_

 _"Well! What's her name?"_

 _"Who knows?"_

 _"Is she nice?"_

 _"Who cares?! Not me!"_

 _"Do you LIKE her?!"_

 _"NO!"_

"Stupid cat..." Calvin grumbled, as he pulled with all his might to bring the lever down. It wouldn't budge. Putting all his weight into it, he pushed himself backward, but the lever wouldn't move.

 _"So long, pop! I'm off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I'm sure to have a tiger by now!"_

Calvin panted and gasped, glaring into the bright light where he was sure the lever was. The cracks behind him became more prominent, as he became aware that he had run out time.

"This isn't how it ends." He growled, a look of angered determination covering his face. "I still have stuff to do."

And with that, he gave the lever one last yank, pulling harder than he had ever pulled on anything before.

The lever finally came down and as the wind immediately fell to silence, as did all of reality as everything went dark.

 _"Congratulations, ma'am. It's a boy."_


	14. Loose Ends

There was a cool breeze in the air. The hard floor was now soft and scented. A small headache was dying away as he took a deep breath. He rolled over onto his back and appreciated the current atmosphere. His eyes slowly opened.

The forest was back. The trees towered over him into the night sky, illuminated by the moon. He sat up and looked around, trying to ascertain where he was. He was back where he'd started this whole thing. Everything was the same. It was his universe. He was home.

Calvin looked around as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He heard movement beside him, and he was surprised to see a familiar fuzzy outline. As the blurriness cleared, he saw Hobbes lying in the grass beside him, clearly disentangling himself from the same mental sluggishness as he had. Their eyes locked, and they stared at each other.

Feeling the relief flood through his psyche, Calvin crawled over and gave his best friend a big hug, which the feline gladly returned.

As they dis-embraced, they took in the world around them. They found MTM lying in the grass, his lights coming on one by one. As Calvin picked him up, he spotted Sherman just waking up in the grass nearby, and a few feet away was Andy, lying face down but also coming around. Socrates was to their right, on his back with his feet up in the air, but he was moaning, indicating that he was fine. Rounding up the herd, they heard a metallic squeak behind them, and they saw Jack coming to, as well as Dr Brainstorm, who was rubbing his head.

"Ooooh," Brainstorm moaned. "… What hit me?"

Andy reached over and scooped up Sherman. "Seems we're alive, for better or for worse," he announced.

"And everything seems to be just fine," Sherman said, looking up at the not-split sky.

"Escaped by the skin of our teeth, by the look of it," Socrates agreed, stretching his stiff muscles.

"No sign of Shade or Shack, though," Jack said, taking a good look around. "Looks like I can delete Shack's friend request…"

"Wonder where they went…," said Andy.

Hobbes shrugged. "Search me. Last I remember, I was fighting them, but then I woke up here."

"Well, if they're not here, then they can't stop me from taking over the world for myself," Dr Brainstorm said, getting to his feet and dusting off his lab coat.

"So what happened exactly?" Socrates asked, looking to the MTM.

The CD player revved back up again. "Once the machine was shut down, the failsafe reset everything to just before the merge began. Anything that was supposed to be in the other universe has returned, and the opening of the skies never happened."

"But because we were in the center of the storm, we're the only ones who can remember," Andy finished.

They all looked at the boy in surprise. "How'd you work that out?" Sherman asked.

Andy shrugged. "We've been at the center of quite a few storms in our day."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Well, seems we're all back together and safe from harm," Calvin said brightly. "Might as well pack up and go home."

"We didn't bring anything," Andy pointed out.

"Then there's nothing to pack! Let's make tracks…"

Hobbes cleared his throat, grabbing his friend by the shoulder. "I think you're forgetting something."

"Forgetting what?"

"The evil cult trying to kill our babysitter."

"… Oh, _that_. MTM – didn't the cult get sent back to the other universe?"

MTM briefly scanned the area. "Nope. They're still in the woods, going through their rituals."

"How? Weren't they from the Luna universe?"

"Yes, but the ritual they were performing protected them from the failsafe, so they're stuck here."

There was a five second period wherein everyone groaned miserably.

"Oh, _great_!" Dr Brainstorm snapped. "Now we gotta deal with _this_ crud!"

"Come on, guys," Calvin sighed. "Let's break up the party."

They wandered off in the direction of the cult.

* * *

Sheila, Jacqueline, Jessica and Chris stared up at the chanting women as they moved around them in a circle.

"I guess this is it!" Chris wailed. "This is really the end!"

"It can't end like this! I still haven't been to prom! I was going to wear a white taffeta formal!"

Sheila squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. "If I ever get this melodramatic, shoot me," she hissed.

Jacqueline shrugged. "If you say so…"

At last, the chanting stopped, and the High Priestess stood over the quartet with a long curved blade. "And now, we shall finally have our blood!" She took a moment to glare down at them. "We quadruple-tied those knots, and we've got _all_ of your little team, so _no more interruptions_!" she hissed, clearly very frustrated at this point.

Sheila glared at her. "Do your worst," she hissed.

The High Priestess raised her large blade over Sheila's abdomen, all set to impale her at long last. However, to her surprise, the blade was zapped out of her hands, and she watched as it went flying off to the side, landing in the grass as it smoldered icky green smoke.

"Oh, _come on_!" she shouted, all set to pull her hair out.

Sheila and Jacqueline tilted their heads to see where the obvious laser had come from, and they were surprised to see Dr Brainstorm standing there with his Servant Ray, the tip giving off a light plume of smoke.

"I'm only going to say this once," he said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Get your filthy mitts off my sister." His eyes flitted across the group. "And her robot… And those other two."

The High Priestess pointed at Dr Brainstorm with a savage expression. "Sisters! _Attack!_ " she roared.

The robed cultists all began to descend on the mad scientist, but he simply held up the Servant Ray and pressed a button. The tip erupted in a powerful blast of electricity that lit up the sky and caused them all to go falling backwards. They stared up at his fierce expression, finally noticing just how powerful he was when he was actually focused, so they got to their feet and ran for safety, vanishing into the woods.

"No! Stop! Come back!" the High Priestess shouted. "He's just a man! He can't hurt us!"

"Possibly not," Dr Brainstorm replied coolly. "But _she_ can."

The High Priestess looked confused for a moment before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find herself staring into Sheila's angry eyes, and over her shoulder, she saw Jack standing over the sliced remains of the ropes, and the others were getting off the slab.

Realizing how angry everyone looked, the Priestess tried to look calm. "I don't suppose we could discuss this…?"

Her response was a hearty punch in the face as Sheila's fist connected with her nose. The older woman went flying backwards and landed in the grass, clutching her face in agony. She looked up at the two angry Brainstorm siblings, not to mention their slightly-miffed robot assistants, and she realized just how outnumbered she was. She hobbled off into the woods, clutching her nose.

Sheila made to follow her, but Frank stopped her. "No, no, it's fine. She'll be rejoining her sisterhood in a moment."

Two seconds later, the woods lit up with a flash of white light, and a moment later, Calvin came walking out of the woods with the MTM in his hands, twirling him on his finger. "Okay, got that done," he said casually. "Sent them all back to the Luna Universe where they belong."

"The what?" Jacqueline asked.

"Alternative universe where they originally came from," Jack explained.

"Oh, what a big load!" Sheila snapped. "You guys just clowned around in the woods all night, watching us almost get killed!"

"I wish," Frank muttered.

Andy came out of the woods next, carrying two stuffed tigers and a hamster on his shoulder. "Did you get them all?" he asked.

"I think so," Calvin replied.

"What'd you do?" Chris asked.

"Oh, I just used the MTM to send the cult back to their original universe. Nothing fancy."

The teenage boy looked impressed. "Wow… that was so _cool_! That was amazing! Dude, you're like, six, and you still beat up those old hags!"

"I… didn't beat them up, per say…"

MTM unexpectedly started beeping.

"What's that?" Jessica asked.

"Ooop! Missed one! Just a second!"

There was a rustling in the trees, and to their surprise, the woman who had acted all crazy towards Calvin at the start of this story came running, screeching madly and reaching out for him. The boy didn't even flinch at her arrival, simply turned to face her as she got closer and closer. She was all set to attack when he casually held up the MTM, and a blast of electricity sent her flying back the way she came, landing in a heap on the ground.

Smoke rising from her singed robes, the woman struggled to sit up and look her attacker in the eye. Calvin was approaching, walking up alongside. She attempted to get up, but he simply forced her back down with his tiny foot. He leaned over and looked her in the eye.

"How about we just send you home, huh? And maybe stop with the rituals and the sacrifices and the attempted summoning of demons, okay? Otherwise, I might just find you again one day, and I'll have to stop you again."

The woman glared at him, still too weak from the electrocution to do anything against him.

Calvin just smiled sweetly and held out the MTM, and in a flash, she was transported back to the Luna Universe.

They all stared at the spot, but while the others were used to such events by now, Jessica and Chris were freaking out.

"How did you _do_ that?" Chris demanded.

"You just made her disappear into thin air!" Jessica screeched.

"Oh please, it's just interdimensional travel," Dr Brainstorm grumbled. "It's not _that_ hard…"

But the two terrified teens were already backing away from the group. "You… you…," Jessica stammered. "Who the heck _are_ you people?! How did…? How…?"

"Where did those tigers come from?!" Chris shrieked, pointing at Hobbes and Socrates in shock.

The two tigers in question looked at each other in bewilderment. "Er… we've been here the whole time, bro," Socrates said, waving. "Just kinda… y'know, hanging…"

"But… they were just a pair of… and now they're…!" Jessica wailed helplessly. Then she got down on her knees. "Don't eat us!"

Hobbes shrugged. "Wasn't really planning on it. I prefer a fresh slab of antelope, personally…"

Chris and Jessica were freaking out enough that even Sheila was disturbed. "Okay, you two need to take a chill pill," she said, backing away from them.

Dr Brainstorm sighed. "I think they're not mentally capable of handling this. Jack – would you mind?"

"Program seven-eight-two-stroke-b?"

"That's the one."

"I'm hip."

Jack held up a finger, pointing it at the two teens. It lit up before a beam of light shot out and zapped both of them in the forehead. Their eyes rolled up in their heads, and they collapsed in the grass.

Dr Brainstorm dusted his hands. "Well, that's enough of that. Shall we get them home so we can call it a night?"

"Agreed," said Calvin. "I can teleport everyone to their respective homes from here. Right, MTM?"

"Right," MTM replied. "Now that I'm running on the raw power of our home universe again, I should be right as rainbow sprinkles."

"Glad to hear it," Sheila scowled. "Now get us out of here. Mom's probably going to call from the spa to check on us any minute."

"She'll probably be back _from_ the spa at any minute," Jacqueline corrected. "There's no way a hot tub and a coconut oil massage will be enough to calm _her_ down."

"Fair point," Dr Brainstorm said. "Jack – make a note. We need to prepare a three-layer-chocolate-cake when we get home."

"Ahhh, sugar coma. Good thinking," Jack said with a nod.

Then the Brainstorm siblings noticed Calvin and the gang were all staring at them.

"Oh right! Knew I was forgetting something," Dr Brainstorm said, turning towards them. " _ALLIANCE IS_ OVER _, KID! WE'RE DONE BEING ON THE SAME SIDE! NOW I GET TO GO BACK TO TRYING TO KILL YOU! COMPRENDE?!_ "

"Comprendo," Calvin replied calmly.

"Good! Well…! I'll just… Yeah, we'll just go, then."

Calvin nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, we'll see you guys later."

MTM lit up, and a moment later, the Brainstorms and their robots were transported back to Yellowstone.

"How about you guys?" Hobbes asked, glancing at the others.

"Well, I personally would like to go back to bed," Andy said, clearly exhausted.

"Same here," Sherman agreed. "I got things to do in the morning."

Socrates raised a paw. "If you don't mind, Cally, I'd like to stick with you guys for a little while, and then I'll walk home. I've got some plans you might be interested in."

Calvin arched an eyebrow. "Go on…"

* * *

Jessica's eyes slowly creaked open, and she took in her surroundings. At first, she panicked because she didn't know where she was. The living room was not her own. But then she remembered – babysitting. She'd been babysitting. That boy… Calvin!

She blinked herself awake. Hadn't there been a camping trip? An insane sisterhood trying to kill her? And her boyfriend? And a crazy lady and a robot girl? There'd been…

Then she noticed Chris was in the easy chair, upside down and snoring loudly. She stared at him for a few seconds before she remembered. Babysitting! No boyfriends allowed! She looked at her phone – it was almost time for Calvin's parents to be home!

She half-stumbled from the couch to the chair and started slapping him awake. "Chris! Wake up! Wake up!"

Chris snorted as his eyes fluttered open. "Wha…? What happened? Jess? Where are we? We were… Weren't we in the woods?"

"I… I don't know. I mean… I think? No… Maybe? Whatever! We're back at Calvin's house! We need to get you out of here before his parents get here!"

Chris just blinked. "…Why?"

"Because you're not supposed to be here! You're my _boyfriend_! What're they going to think?!"

"What's there to be ashamed of? We didn't do anything! We were just making out!"

Jessica stared at him for a long minute. "… Have you _always_ been this dumb?"

"Uh…"

"Look, just get up! Text me when you're home!" She forcibly heaved him off the couch and got him onto his feet.

He snapped himself out of it and grabbed his jacket, deciding it was best just to do as she said for a moment. He got himself out the door, and made it down the walk, and he was just making it down the sidewalk when something coiled around his left ankle. His foot came out from under him and he flipped upside down into a tree. He was just finishing yelling in surprise when a jar of mustard poured all over him. He coughed and sputtered, completely humiliated as he struggled to see what he was doing. He saw the noose around his ankle, and he managed to reach and untie it, causing him to land in the mustard puddle on the ground.

Panicked, he ran to his car parked on the curb, and he dove inside.

Unknown to him, the entire incident had been recorded via a camera phone, owned by a red-tailed tiger who was doing his best not to laugh until the boy had driven away. Once the car was out of sight, Socrates let loose and laughed his butt off, rolling around on the floor. Calvin and Hobbes, who had been watching over his shoulders, were laughing as well. There was always something immensely cathartic about watching an idiot get tortured.

Finally, Socrates caught his breath and sat up. "Well! I guess that's it for me! Time to go home and upload this little baby to the wide world of web! See you guys in the morning!"

The others said their goodbyes, and Socrates jumped out the window, slid down the drain pipe and landed in the yard. They watched him depart, and as he disappeared up the street – his lunatic laughter echoing everywhere as he rewatched the clip – they saw a pair of headlights coming around the corner.

"Look who's home…!" Calvin remarked.

* * *

Jessica sat nervously on the couch, tapping her fingers against her knees in uneasy anticipation. She heard the car doors slam shut, and she heard the footsteps coming up the walk. She threw a quick glance at the stairs, and she saw Calvin peering down at her. Their eyes locked, and she saw the devious smirk on his face. He simply winked and disappeared to his room again.

She barely had time to turn her head all the way around when the door opened, and Mom and Dad came walking inside.

"Jessica! How'd it go tonight?" Mom asked.

Jessica let out a yelp, jumping to her feet. "ACK! I…! I mean, that is to say… I'm… I mean… Nothing happened! Everything's fine! I didn't take him into the woods!"

Dad raised an eyebrow. "Er… We didn't ask."

"You didn't have to! Because I didn't! Everything's fine! Totally fine!"

They stared at her for a long moment.

Jessica fake-yawned and stretched. "Goodness, is that the time?" she asked, not even looking at a clock. "Well, I'd better mosey on home! Calvin's in his room. Totally in his room. I'll just… Bye!"

She ran past them and out the door, and a moment later, her car peeled out of the driveway and tore up the street into the night.

Mom and Dad stared out the open door in bewilderment.

"What do you suppose he did to her?" Mom asked nervously.

"I'm not sure…," Dad replied. "Still, that worked out better than I thought it would. We didn't even have to pay her!"

* * *

Later that night, Calvin and Hobbes were getting comfortable in bed. They lay back under the cool sheets and gazed out the window at the night sky.

"… I wonder if the friends we made in Lunanox are okay," Hobbes pondered. "And if they are, do they even remember us? Or maybe they forgot what happened like everyone else…"

Calvin shrugged sleepily. "Who knows? Maybe one day we'll go back and see them… Until then, we can rest easy knowing we saved the day yet again."

"And how."

The two friends snuggled up to each other, and feeling safe and secure for the first time in hours, they drifted off to sleep.


	15. Epilogue

Evening was beginning to fall once again over the bustling and vociferous streets of Lunanox. Crowds of townsfolk who, only minutes before, had been speaking in tones of complacency with one another and trading with various street merchants, were now thinning and retreating back to their own houses or local inns. Parents would usher their children inside with mild tones of urgency, while many others fumbled with intricate locking systems placed on their doors and windows. The air hung heavy and tense like the atmosphere of a room after a heated argument. People refused to make eye contact with one another, as they made haste to remove themselves from the stone laden streets. For many, the day and safety that came with it was coming to close.

For our favorite alternate universe team of monster hunters, however, it was only the beginning of their day. Jackal was sleeping on his small bed, as he had been for most of the daytime hours, while Imposter laid on his own mattress, mildly entertaining himself in between his naps by conjuring small illusions in his hand. Puppeteer sat at his usual spot at the window overlooking the city, while the Doctor sat in his own more tidied up corner, content with reading.

For a while, they were all silent, until a distinct knocking sounded throughout the group's apartment.

Jackal groaned and rolled over.

"What time is it?" He mumbled rolling over to face Imposter.

Imposter merely shrugged while Doctor moved his sleeve away to examine his watch.

"It's nearly eight." He said, smoothly.

"Cool..." Jackal muttered, rolling over again. "Who wants to go get the door? Cuz I'm not doing it."

"Nah," Imposter said, while Puppeteer merely grunted.

A sigh hissed out of Doctor's lips, as he stood up and straightened his coat. "I guess I'll handle the business as normal." He muttered, walking over the door. "Can any of you at least attempt to act professional?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Jackal said, reaching for his mask on the bedside desk, and latching it to his face.

"If it's all the same, call me when we can head out." Imposter said. "I don't feel like talking to people right now."

And with that, the hooded figure waved his hand in front of his face, and quickly faded away.

Doctor and Jackal stared at where he once was.

"You do realize we know you don't have to do the hand motion to turn invisible right?" Jackal said. "It doesn't make you look cool."

"Says the people who can't turn invisible." The muttered voice of Imposter came from the bed.

Doctor rolled his eyes and opened the door. Behind it were two rather stock men. One of them appeared to be in his mid-50s with a rough goatee and thick brown coat. The other was a younger man in his 20s, clutching a bag to his side and eyeing the man, nervously.

"Good evening," Doctor said, looking the older man up and down.

The man nodded to him. "I have a job your team might be interested in." He said in a thick Scottish accent.

Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Straight to the point, huh? I like that. What kind of job?"

"Simple delivery job." The man said, taking a dirty and wrinkled yet neatly folded up piece of paper out of his coat pocket and offering it to the surgeon. "There's a package on the carriage outside. A client wants it delivered to him, tonight."

Doctor chuckled and took the paper, unfolding it, and peering down at the faded handwriting upon it. "Hmm," He mused. "I notice an address, a name, some other minor details – no payment information, though."

He tsked, and folded the paper back up, and handed it back. "My team doesn't work for free."

"The client has the payment." The man said, not moving to accept the paper back. "Fifty star crystals and twenty blood crystals. All about moderate size."

"Really?" The Doctor's eyes narrowed slightly. "That's quite the hefty price there. What's in this package that's so important?"

"Never asked." The man said, simply.

"Hmm," Doctor examined the paper for a moment, before turning his head to Jackal and Puppeteer. Jackal nodded towards him.

"Very well." He said, turning back towards the man. "We'll play delivery boys, tonight."

"Thank you." The man said, a slight tone of relief in his voice.

"Thank _you._ " Doctor chuckled. "Where are you gentlemen from?"

"The Blackwood district."

"Ooh... So far away from home at such a late hour of the evening. I trust you have a place to stay?"

"We've already arranged for that." The man said. "When will you head out?"

"As soon as possible." Doctor said. "You needn't worry about a thing. You have a lovely night, now."

And with that, Doctor closed the door in the men's faces, and turned back towards his group.

"Has anyone ever told you about your irreproachable people skills?" Imposter asked, fading back into visibility.

"I don't feel like getting into it with you right now, Imposter." Doctor sighed. "I trust you all heard the details?"

Imposter, Puppeteer and Jackal all gave the man a collective thumbs up.

"Good. Then let's get our equipment and head out."

Jackal chuckled, and jumped out of bed. "Heh... _equipment!_ " He scoffed, stretching his arms and cracking his knuckles. "I'll be waiting outside."

* * *

Night had completely fallen over the city by the time Imposter, Puppeteer and Doctor made their way out of the tower. The houses around them were dark and silent and the only light that was visible at this point was the dim glow from the few star crystals shining in the street lamps, and the usual ominous dark red light of the cursed star above them.

Jackal was examining the carriage hitched by their tower, ignoring the nervous grunts and neighs of the horses tied to it, while they looked around the darkness nervously.

"Soooo... Do we need to bring this carriage back in one piece or what?" The gunslinger asked as his team approached.

"I don't recall him saying anything about it." Imposter nodded, hopping into the front seat. "So what have we got in here?" Flipping himself around, he examined the crate in the back seat of the carriage. It was about the size of a small desk and was poorly constructed in nature with several small holes circling it.

"We don't need to know what it is, we just have to deliver it." Doctor said, simply. "Let's make it quick, too. We need to pay the Wolf Lantern a visit after this."

"Puppeteer, I'm just saying right now, you're not fitting on this thing." Imposter said, motioning towards the cart.

"That's okay." The giant sighed. "I can keep up with it."

"Shotgun." Jackal said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Doctor.

"Uh huh." Doctor grumbled, as he untied the horses and Jackal leapt into the seat next to Imposter.

The group set out shortly after this, with Imposter and Jackal manning the front while Doctor sat in the back with the crate, and Puppeteer walked briskly after them to keep up. Being seven feet tall, however, it wasn't much of an effort to do so. The horses walked quickly, clearly on edge as they looked in the direction of every sound. Jackal casually lit a cigar as they went on.

As they went on, other people began becoming more apparent on the street. Most of them were dressed very heavily in coats and hoods, and merely ignored the syndicate as they darted through alleys and across the street. Some of which were attempting to steal star crystals from the street lamps.

"Amateurs," Doctor commented, as he watched some of the men abandoning their heist upon the approach of the carriage.

In the distance, the sound of a werewolf was heard howling, as another person caught Jackal's eye. A very gruff looking man with a trench coat eyed the carriage, as it passed him. The minor glow emitting from his mouth indicated he had one or possibly more star crystal teeth. He glared at Jackal as they approached.

Jackal eyed him back and silently squared him up. He jerked his head in his direction to make sure the man knew he was looking back through his mask. The man didn't move or falter, but simply continued glaring, specifically at Jackal.

In an instant of general annoyance, Jackal raised his hand and a large silver revolver materialized into it from the dust being kicked up from the carriage. He fired the gun off, shattering the silence of the night.

The man flinched as the bullet struck the wall a few feet away from him before he ducked into the darkness of an alleyway.

"What the heck was that?!" Doctor shouted, giving Jackal a cold glare.

"He was staring!" Jackal defended. "What, were you expecting me to be mature or something?"

Doctor groaned as he heard the familiar howls growing closer. "I was really hoping we could get through this quietly..."

"Ah, maybe they're still far away." Imposter said, confidently. "I'm sure something else will catch their attention before they get here."

As soon as these words left Imposter's mouth, the sound of trash bins and market stands being knocked over began reaching the syndicate's ears. Shortly after, a pair of large werewolves burst from an alley, growling and slobbering as they threw looks in all directions searching for the source of the gunshot.

The other people in the street scattered, terrified, as one of the wolves locked its gaze onto the carriage and let out a low growl.

"We could have just done this quietly." Doctor repeated, irritably.

"Full speed ahead!" Imposter shouted, whipping at the reins on the horses.

The horses cried out as the carriage took off at a significantly faster speed, nearly throwing the three syndicate members off.

Puppeteer turned and drew his hammer, before smashing it hard into the ground, and causing it to crack. As he did so, two large humanoid stone constructs formed out of the crater and began standing up. They turned and faced the werewolves as Puppeteer went running off as well to catch up with the carriage. The constructs took boxing stances in front of the wolves and one of them motioned for the monsters to attack.

The wolves growled and began closing in.

"Did we lose them?" Imposter shouted over the sound of the horses galloping through the streets and the heavy pounding of Puppeteer's footsteps shortly behind.

Jackal threw a glance over his shoulder in time to see the werewolves tore Puppeteer's constructs to pieces as more of them began creeping out of the shadows and howling upward before giving chase to the carriage.

"Eeeh..." He shrugged. He flicked his wrist, producing another gun and fired it off at the wolves.

He watched as a couple of them collapsed, but more simply appeared from behind buildings, snapping at Puppeteer's heels and swiping at the carriage's wheels. "Might wanna pick it up a bit."

Imposter turned sharply around a corner, rounding a house, and getting himself on a bumpy gravel back road.

The crate bounced and threatened to fall off, saved only by Doctor grabbing hold of it, and holding it down. "We could have just done this quietly..." He growled.

Jackal continued firing off slightly larger firearms at the monsters, each between each hand with each shot. However, the constant lurching and bumping of the carriage made it almost impossible to hit anything.

Doctor ducked as an assault rifle shot went right over his head.

"Watch it!" He shouted.

"Sorry Doc,"

Suddenly the carriage hit a slightly larger rock, jerking violently to one side, and causing the horses to change directions.

"No, no! Don't do that!" Imposter shouted, as the carriage bolted into a small group of trees.

It was probably about ninety five percent luck that the carriage managed to dodge the first two trees. This luck sadly ran out upon encountering the third, and the syndicate found their transportation coming to a sudden and violent stop.

Imposter and Jackal were thrown from the carriage as the wood splintered and the horses were broken from their reins. Doctor managed to hold on, but the crate fell from the carriage as well, hitting the ground with such force, it was a miracle it was able to stay intact.

Jackal managed to acrobat his way to landing on his feet. Imposter did so as well, but with slightly less grace, as he produced a notable grunt of pain as he landed.

Puppeteer jogged up, and examined the wreckage. "What did you guys do?" He mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh please don't associate me with what _they_ did." Doctor moaned, rubbing his sore back, as he stumbled out of the wreckage.

"You're not allowed to drive anymore," Jackal said simply, throwing a look at Imposter.

"Oh yeah, cuz you didn't do _anything_ to put us in that situation!" Imposter protested.

"Not in the slightest."

"Did we need to return the carriage?" Puppeteer cut in.

Everyone turned and stared at the splintered and cracked remains of the horse carriage. In the distance, they could see the horses that had been towing it fleeing off into the distance and out of sight.

"Well, not anymore we don't," Jackal shrugged.

Doctor sighed and rubbed his temple. "Puppeteer, can you get the box moving?"

Puppeteer nodded and walked up to the box. He tapped it with his hammer, causing it to sprout two wooden legs and stand up.

"Good," Doctor said. "Now where are the werewolves?"

Imposter stifled a chuckle, while Doctor and Jackal glared at him.

Suddenly, the howling reached their ears once again, and the group turned in time to see two of the wolves creeping through the darkness, their noses pressed to the ground while they inhaled deeply. Upon spotting the group, their ears flattened and they bared their teeth, while moving forward.

"I mean Doc, it's not like we can't take these," Jackal said, stepping forward.

"It doesn't matter if we can!" Doctor insisted. "We were supposed to do this quickly!"

Jackal glared at the werewolves before conceding and turning to run.

"Imposter, I need you to try and block them off!" Doctor called, as the group took off towards a nearby alley, the crate jogging beside them.

"On it!" Imposter said, giving a thumbs up.

As they rushed into the alley, Imposter waved his arms at the entrance, causing a blue energy to swirl around his hands.

In an instant, a wavering and tall white picket fence with a steel gate appeared in front of the alley. A white sign as well materialized, with the words "PLEASE KEEP GATE SHUT" written across it in bold. The illusion flickered like a hologram, before it took on a more solid appearance.

Jackal threw a look over his shoulder as he ran, before turning an inquisitive glare onto his companion.

"It was supposed to be a stone wall..." Imposter said, sheepishly.

"How'd you manage that?" Jackal questioned.

Despite the slight transparency however, as the syndicate rounded a corner into a parallel alley, the werewolves each came to a stop in front of the gate. They growled and snapped at each other as they examined the fence in front of them, before conceding and turning around to search for easier prey.

The rest of the walk went without incident, as the syndicate approached a dark apartment complex with the lights out and the doors unlocked. Jackal examined it suspiciously, while the rest stood guard for anything that still might attack.

"This place looks abandoned..." He concluded. "This where we supposed to deliver this thing?"

"According to the info, yes." Doctor nodded.

Jackal shrugged. "A'ight,"

The group entered the building, where they found themselves in a small foyer room that split into two staircases that seemingly lead into different directions. The syndicate stared blankly at the setting.

"Does it say what room we're supposed to meet him?" Puppeteer asked.

Doctor paused, before taking the paper out again and examining it.

"Erm... No, it does not..." He started.

"Well that's fantastic." Jackal grunted. "Kind of an important detail to leave out!"

"Well the building's not that big." Imposter observed. "We could probably just do a quick sweep of it and figure it out."

Silence followed these words.

"Sure, I guess..." Jackal shrugged, clearly still irritated.

"Good, Puppeteer and I will take the left staircase. You and Imposter take the right." Doctor instructed, indicating to the stairs. "We'll meet down here afterwards."

"Got it." Imposter said, giving a thumbs up, while Jackal was already on his way up the stairs.

The Doctor and Puppeteer walked in mostly silence, as they climbed the stairs with the animated crate walking briskly behind him. Upon reaching a floor, the two would split up and check each room, only to find each one either abandoned or taken up as shelter by the homeless.

Puppeteer encountered one rather scrawny young woman with tattered clothes, huddled in a corner, clutching a small star crystal with the light fading from it. Clearly terrified out of her mind of the giant that had entered the room, she held the crystal out in front of her like a shield, her hand trembling uncontrollably. Puppeteer observed her for a moment, before reaching into his bag, causing her to freeze in fear. He pulled out a significantly larger star crystal before dropping it on the ground next to the woman and continuing on his search. She paused, looking back and forth between Puppeteer and the larger, brighter crystal. Slowly she crept forward and picked it up, nodding gratefully to the giant.

Puppeteer ignored her and simply left the room, upon concluding his search.

"This is such a waste of time." Doctor grumbled, as Puppeteer closed the door behind him. "The night is slowly slipping away from us and we're in here, looking for a squatter."

Puppeteer shrugged and started towards down the hallway to the next door.

All of a sudden, the door swung open, and a massive man, easily the same size as Puppeteer stomped out of the room. He wore chainmail armor over a dark robe, and a large star crystal necklace.

Doctor whipped out his scalpel, while Puppeteer placed his hand on his hammer, preparing for a fight.

The man turned to Puppeteer and looked him up and down, as if squaring him up, and took a step forward.

"HNNNNG!" He grunted threateningly, still eyeing him up and down.

"HNNNNNG!" Puppeteer grunted back more forcefully, taking a step forward as well.

"HMMM" The man shot back, moving in until he was directly in Puppeteer's face.

"UUUUGH" Puppeteer roared back, moving in as well, until their noses almost touched.

There was a silence as they stared at each other, before the other man suddenly nodded, approvingly.

"HRRRNG," He grunted, tapping his chest twice with his fist.

"HUNNNGH" Puppeteer replied, also nodding.

The two gave each other comradely shoulder taps, before the other man stomped off on his way, and disappeared into another room.

Puppeteer turned and faced Doctor, who was staring at him with a rather puzzled expression.

"What- What was that?" He started, straightening himself up and placing his scalpel away.

Puppeteer shrugged. "To be honest, I wasn't really sure where that was going to go." He admitted.

Doctor sighed.

Jackal and Imposter, meanwhile, had reached the first floor of their side, and were each searching their own respective rooms with about the same success.

Imposter opened a door and peered into the darkness of the room before him. Inside, he heard the distinct sound of slobbering and crunching. In the blackness, he saw two glowing white eyes turn towards him, followed by the sound of low gurgling. He stared at it for a moment, before closing the door.

"Anything?" Jackal called from another room.

"Vampire, it looks like," Imposter called back.

"Really? Dang, that's boring."

"Right?"

Suddenly, the wooden door was ripped completely off its hinges, sending wood everywhere as a large humanoid creature stood behind it. Its eyes were sunken white holes and its skin was leathery and dry, and appeared to be falling off its body. It had long talons and a somewhat small mouth with jagged and chipped teeth.

Imposter stared at it for a moment. "My mistake... it's a rake." He concluded.

"Cool," Jackal called back. "How'd you mix those two up?"

The rake made an unsettling gargling noise before it made a swipe at Imposter, who dodged the attack with great ease.

In one swift motion, the assassin did a backflip out of the way of the rake's claws and pulled out his chainsaw swords.

He hit the buttons on each one, respectively, and the chains began spinning and producing a low clinking sound. The rake made another lunge for him, and Imposter took the opportunity to make an attack.

The rake cried out in pain as it reeled back and held its arm. More flaked skin fell to the ground as Jackal emerged from the residing room, an old fashioned revolver in his hand.

The gunshot rang out, and the gun faded to nothing as the rake collapsed onto the ground, defeated.

The two stared at it for a short moment.

"I was kind of hoping for more of a fight, to be honest." Imposter mentioned.

"Yeah, that'll happen when you're over powered." Jackal shrugged, turning towards the next room.

As the two groups made their way up the floors, they eventually came to the top floor, which joined the two staircases. Imposter was the first to make his way up, as he examined the room that surrounded him. He found himself in a large circular room with tables all around covered in papers and crude drawings. Hanging on the wall was an elk trophy and a line of star crystals hung like Christmas lights. Around him, there were several books and papers strewn across the floor and directly ahead was a small circular window that overlooked the city.

The rest of the syndicate shortly joined Imposter as they looked around the room as well.

"Well this is getting us nowhere." Jackal growled, looking around the room. "How long until we say to heck with this?"

"We aren't about to abandon a job, Jackal." Doctor said. "We'll do one more sweep of the house, then we'll see where we're at."

"No need." Came a smooth voice from the darkness.

All eyes turned and the syndicate spotted a man sitting in a desk next to an array of scribbles and notes. They wondered how they could have missed him in the first place, as he stood up as faced them. He wore a dark robe with star crystals on the hood and sleeves. His face was tired yet intense, and he had a large dark spot over his face that partially covered his right cheek and his nose.

The syndicate all stared at him, as he approached. "Well hello," Imposter said, simply.

"I wasn't expecting a cavalry to deliver my package." He said quietly. "Pays all the same, I suppose."

"Indeed." Doctor said, snapping his fingers. "Your crate is here."

The man watched excitedly as the crate walked up to him and plopped down, the legs receding back into the wood.

"Excellent." The man said, returning to his desk. He grabbed a crowbar from it and hurriedly returned, placing it under the lid and pulling.

"This is all good and well," Jackal cut in. "But we'd really just like our payment now."

The man looked up at the syndicate and eyed each of them, silently.

"Yes, of course." He said, quietly. "My apologies. I'm used to my assistant fetching things for me, but he's out on errands right now. Just have to..."

"You sound familiar..." Jackal interrupted, leaning in towards the man. "Have we met?"

"I can't say we have," The man said simply, picking the crate up and turning away. "Now, if it's all the same to you..."

All of a sudden, the man and the crate vanished into the darkness, seemingly engulfed by it, leaving the syndicate standing at the top of the stairs, shocked.

"Oh no you don't!" Jackal growled, adjusting the star crystal eye piece on his mask. "I can see right through this one, buddy!"

He formed the revolver into his hand once again and aimed it into the the darkness, his star crystal eyepiece showing him where Shade had vanished to, until he felt Imposter's hand on his arm.  
Jackal glared at him. "Kinda busy, Imposter!"

"Just trust me on this." Imposter said. "Just wait."

Jackal continued glaring at him, until he lowered the gun, and it faded away. "If we don't get paid, I'm throwing you out the window!" He growled.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a tripwire going off followed by the sound of Shade grunting in pain.

To everyone's shock, Shade reappeared from the darkness, having dropped the crate, as a wire holding his foot in a noose flipped him over and tossed him into a table.

"OOF!" He shouted, papers and books going in all directions.

There was a pause as he rubbed his side in pain, still hanging from the ceiling, until the grand finale finally presented itself.

A thick bright yellow liquid exploded from the top of the ceiling and coated Shade, who coughed and sputtered, trying to regain his dignity.

Jackal, Doctor, Puppeteer and Imposter all stared at the mad scientist for a long moment.

"Mustard, huh?" Puppeteer said, slowly.

"Yup." Imposter nodded.

"Well alright then."

Doctor heaved a sigh as he walked up to Shade and began cutting him down.

"Okay, so you actually did learn something half way useful from that tiger." He grumbled, picking Shade up by the collar. "I expect you to stop continually talking to us about it now."

Imposter gave Doctor a thumbs up.

There was a short pause as Doctor wiped away some of the mustard, and restrained Shade into the corner. Jackal turned to Imposter

"How the heck did you even set that up in here?" He demanded.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _This may or may not be the last you've seen of the Luna Syndicate. Consider this a possible backdoor pilot for their own series. Where and when and if it materializes, we don't know. We'll just have to see._

 _I can confidently state that_ Calvin & Hobbes III: Double Trouble _is now properly in production. Might not be until summer before you see it - and even then, don't get_ too _excited. But it is definitely coming! See you then!_


End file.
